Phoenix from ashes part 1: The Price of Freedom
by Armitage374
Summary: The Taelons are finally gone and Liam..Liam is dead, isn't he ? Alternative Universe story (Season 5 NEVER happened!!!)
1. 1

----------------------------------------------  
  
The Price of Freedom  
  
First part of the "Phoenix From Ashes" Series  
  
By   
  
Katja Boysen  
  
Denmark  
  
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Rating:   
  
PG 13 (Hey, it got some major suggestive things on torture in here, so better   
  
safe than sorry. And I never could   
  
figure the ratings thing out ).  
  
Summary:  
  
The war is over, the Taelons gone. And Liam..Liam is dead. Or is he ?.  
  
Authors note:   
  
This is what happens when you guys keep writing up all those Liam Hurt stories:   
  
My muse turns dark side on me   
  
and I have no other alternative than go with the flow.....  
  
And as some of you probably is going to figure out, I have a couple of issues   
  
with poor Renee, dating back to when   
  
she pulled a gun on Liam.....  
  
OK, so I carry grudges for a long time.  
  
Series:  
  
I never intended this to be more than a one-shot story, but after several   
  
requests and a lot of pressure from my   
  
always over active muse, I se at least 2 sequels coming up.  
  
Since that makes this a series, I've chosen to call the entire 3 (or more)   
  
episodes the "Phoenix From Ashes" series.  
  
Nominations:  
  
This Fan fiction was nominated for the BEST NEWCOMER category at the SUMMER   
  
SHAQARAVA AWARDS   
  
2001.  
  
Archives:  
  
My own two EFC sites: The Danish Taelon Embassy (OFF-LINE right now) and   
  
Katja's Global   
  
(http://www.go.to/katjasEFC, also OFF LINE) plus my archive at Katja's Page   
  
(http://www.katjaboysen.tk).  
  
Anyone else, just ask.  
  
Feedback:  
  
Hell yeah ! I LIVE of the stuff !  
  
Just please take in consideration, that this is my first EFC fan fiction to make   
  
it online..  
  
And don't let the fact that I got a pipeline to the dark side and a couple of   
  
really, really good connections in some   
  
very hot areas below scare you off. *BIG NASTY EVIL GRIN*  
  
You can send it to: katjaboysen@fastmail.fm  
  
Standard disclaimers:  
  
They belong to someone else (those pesky types at those companies all Liam   
  
Kincaid, Da'an and Zo'or fans are   
  
now boycotting, you know, Tribune and Alliance/Atlantis).   
  
Except Anr'el and the rest of the gang with her.   
  
They belong to me.   
  
If I DID own them all, we wouldn't have to be afraid to loose Liam.   
  
He would live forever.  
  
Dedication:  
  
This story is, as all of my stories in the Earth - Final Conflict universe,   
  
dedicated to two persons:  
  
Robert Leeshock for giving us fans so much, both in terms of acting and in terms   
  
of   
  
interaction   
  
and to:  
  
Liam Hag'el-Sandoval-Beckett, Alien Enough to be Human  
  
Enough small talk, here comes the story.....  
  
-------------------------------------------------------  
  
The Price of Freedom  
  
by  
  
Katja Boysen  
  
Denmark  
  
-------------------------------------------------------  
  
Year 10 AC.  
  
The war was finally over.  
  
The Taelons had been kicked of the planet with a vengeance, and since they were   
  
no longer here, the Jaridians also   
  
lost every interest in the planet.  
  
We were no longer a threat.   
  
And someone had managed to persuade them to spare Earth from their vengeance.  
  
Nobody really knew who, though.   
  
Just that it was someone high in the resistance hierarchy.  
  
And now, everyone could go back to their old lives, a bit battered, a bit more   
  
scared.   
  
Even Sandoval was pardoned after it turned out he had actually worked deep   
  
undercover for Operation Dark   
  
Knight.  
  
Everything could go back to normal.  
  
Except for one persons life.  
  
In those final days, the public had finally learned Liam's big secret, and they   
  
had, as he had feared, reacted with   
  
repulsion:   
  
He was alien.  
  
He was not to be trusted.   
  
He was a threat.  
  
He was alone.   
  
He was free game.  
  
Even if he had been the leader of the North American Resistance.   
  
But, as several tabloids had merciless pointed out: He had no other choice.   
  
The Taelons would have killed him if they had known about him.  
  
Sure, in the start, everything had been OK.   
  
There had been a feeling of euphoria in the air, and he had been given due   
  
credit, there had even been a couple of   
  
parades in his honour, but soon the tabloids started picking up stories of small   
  
things really, like getting almost   
  
getting into a fight with someone at the Flat Planet when a drunk testosterone   
  
driven bovine of a man didn't take   
  
Renee's "No" for an answer, blowing them out of proportions and slowly his   
  
reputation was eroded.   
  
The verdict of the public was the usual:  
  
Don't believe you're someone. You're not.  
  
We can always pull you down.  
  
Renee had been to absorbed in her own glamorous life to do anything about it.  
  
Dr. Belman had tried, but in vain, her attempts of rectifying the rumours had   
  
gone over the counter as the attempts   
  
of a desperate surrogate mother to protect her charge.   
  
Dr. Park, as well as Joshua Doors, had been killed during the last fights and   
  
thus couldn't help.  
  
Dr. Curzon had bailed out in the name of her good reputation.  
  
J-street and Augur had also tried, but who would believe a couple of ex-cons ?  
  
Sandoval had also tried himself, but, as with Augur and J-street, he was not   
  
trusted.  
  
And Colonel Zeke, who had also shown a surprisingly adamant defence of Liam, had   
  
disappeared right when he   
  
was actually turning the tide to Liam's favour.   
  
And when he disappeared, the rumours came back worse than ever. There were even   
  
some whispers, that Liam   
  
perhaps had killed him in a brawl and successfully hidden the body.  
  
And all his previous actions were slowly forgotten.  
  
Until the only thing left was the story of his alien heritage, the heritage he   
  
had so desperately tried to forget,   
  
suppressing it to the point were even blood scans didn't show his 3rd strand of   
  
DNA anymore.   
  
Suppressed it to the point, where his very life had been in danger.   
  
Only in the end, when Sandoval had shown true colours and had almost been killed   
  
by another companion agent   
  
for it, had the Kimeran heritage manifested itself again, Liam's shaqarava had   
  
activated themselves, absorbing the   
  
skrillblast, which had been meant to end Sandoval's life.   
  
Sandoval never knew why.  
  
  
  
Liam had told him, that there would be time later, when all the racket had died   
  
down a bit.   
  
Sandoval HATED not knowing why.   
  
He had his suspicions, though, but when he confronted Liam's old resistance   
  
friend, Augur, to get either a   
  
confirmation or an explanation, all the former hacker, now turned business man,   
  
would say was: "He'll tell you   
  
himself when the time is right."  
  
But then THE story launched.  
  
The Taelon story of the Kimera being a race of vicious terrorists was suddenly   
  
given a lot more credit than   
  
validated, remembering the source, and ended up being blasted all over all the   
  
news channels, even the more sedate   
  
parts of the press picked it up.   
  
And Liam became quickly became the target of every bigot this side of the North   
  
Pole.  
  
Sandoval leaned back in his chair and sighed.  
  
It had ended up with a dispirited Liam having to go into protective custody.   
  
But that hadn't been enough.   
  
And now Liam was dead.   
  
Apparently attacked by a corrupt guard with a grudge against everything alien.   
  
The tired and worn Liam had not stood a chance.   
  
The guard, killed by one of the other watchers, had somehow gotten his hands on   
  
a high-powered energy weapon   
  
and totally evaporated the unsuspecting Liam.   
  
There was nothing left. Only the witness statements of the other guards was left   
  
to tell the gruesome story of   
  
Liam's last minutes.   
  
Wait a minute: Only statements ?  
  
Suddenly Sandoval frowned. His CVI picked up some memories from his own FBI   
  
days.  
  
He went over the files, that one of his old colleagues in the FBI had send him,   
  
on Liam's death once more.   
  
Something weren't right here.  
  
He opened his global and punched in a now familiar number.  
  
"Augur, I need you to check up on something for me....."  
  
------  
  
Meanwhile, in a secret government installation deep beneath the Pentagon.  
  
------  
  
The prisoner was slowly returning to the world of light.  
  
The last thing he remembered was following the FBI people out to their car, then   
  
everything went black.   
  
His head swam as he attempted to sit up.   
  
A second attempt was more successful, and he started to survey his immediate   
  
surroundings.  
  
The room was barren, 3x3 meters and one end was open, sealed with a barrier of   
  
virtual glass.   
  
On the other site of a corridor, he could see a replica of his own cell, but   
  
that one was empty.  
  
Back to his own cell.  
  
There was a cot, on which he was sitting, a sink and a toilet, the entire thing   
  
was being lit by a harsh light from a   
  
panel in the ceiling and that was it.  
  
He wasn't even wearing his own clothes any more, just some sort of grey jump-  
  
suit, which brought back unpleasant   
  
memories of the garment the prisoners onboard the Taelon mothership had worn.  
  
There was a slight pain in one of his arms, and when he pulled up the sleeve, he   
  
could see a small puncture mark,   
  
like that from a needle.  
  
Funny, he had never, even when the whisper campaign was at it's worst, thought   
  
that the biggest danger came from   
  
the humans.   
  
He had always thought, that despite their distrust, one day, they would see   
  
their error.   
  
A sardonic smile curled his lips.   
  
Well, he had been known to be wrong before.   
  
He wondered what they wanted from him, if it was some kind of knowledge they   
  
thought he possessed or if they   
  
just wanted to pull him apart piece by piece to see exactly what made the "Alien   
  
Hybrid Bastard" (to quote some of   
  
the more polite phrases he had heard lately) tick.  
  
He was pulled out of his bleak thoughts by the sound of someone deactivating the   
  
virtual glass shield.   
  
A couple of heavily armed guards entered the small room and roughly yanked him   
  
up from the cot, then proceeded   
  
with yanking him down the corridor to another room, where a man with a predatory   
  
gleam in his eyes waited.   
  
When he saw what was behind the man, he made a desperate attempt to escape.   
  
To no avail.   
  
The fight was short, but vicious.   
  
And he lost it.  
  
And soon after he groggily found himself strapped to the stainless steel table   
  
in a room, which could only be   
  
described as a torturechamber.  
  
The unknown man gave him a cold smile, which send shivers down his spine.  
  
"Now lets discuss what those inherited memories of yours can tell us about   
  
Kimeran technology."  
  
Not one sound made it past Liam's lips, but in his mind he was screaming.  
  
------  
  
They were a peaceful race.   
  
They had come close to extinction because of it once.  
  
But when they heard the scream, their warfleet, untouched for uncounted   
  
millennia, was put in motion.   
  
For the voice, that had uttered such fear, such pain, had been the voice of a   
  
child.   
  
They were the Kimera.  
  
And no one touched their Children.  
  
-------------  
  
The Lair  
  
Beneath Saint Michael's Church  
  
-------------  
  
Sandoval had been vaguely amused to find out, that the old resistance HQ, which   
  
he had tried to find in vain   
  
during the occupation, was beneath a church.  
  
They had needed somewhere safe, and all though the war was over, only a handful   
  
of ex-resistance people knew   
  
about this place.  
  
They were as safe as they could be.   
  
At least for now.  
  
And then there was also the fact that Augur still had all his computer equipment   
  
down here.   
  
Which ultimately meant that he was still up to some of his old games.  
  
"You can pull the man out of the hacking, but not the hacking out of the man"   
  
Sandoval muttered silently to   
  
himself, adapting an old saying to the present situation.  
  
"What was that ?" Augur asked, accidentally overhearing the low mutter from   
  
Sandoval.  
  
"Nothing, just making an observation" Sandoval managed to hide his snicker.   
  
One only had the fun, that one made himself.   
  
Besides he was getting bored.   
  
His own sources had dried up hours ago without making any kind of progress, so   
  
now only the Troublesome Duo,   
  
as he had dubbed Augur and Street, had the chance of actually figuring out, what   
  
the hell was happening.  
  
Augur and Street had been at it for hours, only taking breaks to eat pizza or   
  
sending Sandoval out for supplies.   
  
The guy at the minimarket had to be thinking that Sandoval had a thing going on   
  
with caffinated brewages and   
  
twinkies by now.   
  
But at least it gave him something to do.   
  
Something else than thinking about what Liam was possible going through.   
  
Thanks to his CVI, he was able to recollect the conversation, which had lead to   
  
him being here with crystal clarity.  
  
-------  
  
12 hours earlier  
  
-------  
  
"Augur, I need you to check up on something for me...."  
  
"It's the middle of the night, Sandoval, can't this wait for tomorrow ?" The   
  
still sleeping Augur said, wishing to   
  
once again enter the pill induced halfcoma, which would allow him to forget,   
  
that Liam, his "adopted"   
  
babybrother, had been killed by a corrupt FBI man less than 24 hours ago.  
  
Liam.  
  
The sudden pang of pain almost made him miss what Sandoval was saying.  
  
"What did you say ?!!" The shock made him think he was hearing things.  
  
"I said: I think Liam's alive ! It's a set-up !" Sandoval repeated impatiently.  
  
"It's not safe to talk about this over the global. Do you have somewhere safe,   
  
where we can meet ?"  
  
Augur immediately thought of the old HQ.  
  
"Yeah, meet me at the Flat Planet in about 20 minutes".  
  
Less than one hour later, Sandoval had found himself here, in the cave beneath   
  
Saint Michael's, in the place, he   
  
would have LOVED to have known about less than a year ago, together with Augur   
  
and a annoyingly frisky young   
  
lady, who introduced herself as J-street.  
  
Street and Augur had not seen fresh air since.  
  
-------  
  
Present  
  
-------  
  
"Those BASTARDS !" Augur's angry voice rang out through the cave, breaking   
  
Sandoval's little trip into the   
  
resent past.  
  
"What's wrong ?" Sandoval moved to stand behind Augur, being joined by Street.  
  
"Look at this !"Augur said, bringing up a set of search results on one of the   
  
big screens. "When nothing else   
  
panned out, I set up a couple of cross-database search patterns on Liam's name."  
  
The result on the screen made Sandovals neckhair rise.  
  
The danger had just multiplied by x.  
  
It was nothing really, just a series of articles in the tabloids.   
  
But when you compared it in a bigger picture, a couple of things sprang out   
  
blatantly clear, so clear that one could   
  
not see the forest for the trees:  
  
They were all designed to rile up the public towards Liam and they were all   
  
published within the same week.  
  
And the information the articles were based on had, anonymously, been called in   
  
from the same 3 phonenumbers.  
  
They were looking at the aimed and wellplanned attempt to destroy a person.  
  
They were up against some people, who were even more powerful than Sandoval   
  
suspected when he first fell over   
  
those first few facts, or rather lack thereof, in the official FBI files.  
  
"Augur, start a trace.." He started.  
  
Augur broke in: "Already on it."  
  
Augur was steamed, both at the world and at himself.   
  
It should have been so obvious to EVERYONE !.   
  
But with the Taelons only recently gone, the public had been more than willing   
  
to turn their anger, their hate at   
  
someone else and these stories had provided them with an easy target.   
  
Liam.  
  
Someone, who was different, defenceless.  
  
Alone.  
  
But he should have know, he should have stopped it somehow.  
  
And now the Kid was in trouble.   
  
And it was his job to make it right again.  
  
-------  
  
Liam's Cell  
  
-------  
  
He groaned as he came to.  
  
He had just ended his first little "conversation" with the Man, as he had dubbed   
  
him.  
  
And every inch of him hurt.  
  
If Dr Belman had seen him, she would have been terrified.  
  
Not a part of his tall, lanky body had been spared and a angrylooking, bloodred   
  
criss-cross pattern wove it's way   
  
over his pale skin, making the touch of the remains of his prisongarb feel like   
  
fire.  
  
His face was a mask of blood, cuts and bruises, his hair streaked with sweat and   
  
blood.   
  
He vaguely remembered his nose being broken maybe twice, and he had a suspicion,   
  
that a couple of ribs was   
  
cracked or at the very least bended.  
  
Nothing major had been broken though.   
  
And he still had all his teeth.   
  
Something he found himself somewhat relieved by, for some weird reason.  
  
But he had said nothing.  
  
He hadn't broken.  
  
Not yet.  
  
He couldn't say anything, because there was nothing to say.  
  
His inherited memories had disappeared along with his 3rd string of DNA. He   
  
simply couldn't remember anymore.   
  
He gave up everything to be part of this world, but still wasn't accepted.  
  
And now they wanted what he could no longer give.  
  
Maybe he should just will himself to die.  
  
Like Da'an had done in the end, after the Synod found out, that he had   
  
"betrayed" them by negotiating peace with   
  
the Jaridians.  
  
Da'an.  
  
That was the only thing he really regretted in his life, not having made up with   
  
him before it was to late.  
  
To late had he found out, that the deaths of all those resistance fighters came   
  
not on Da'an's shoulders, but on his   
  
own.  
  
Da'an had done it to protect him.   
  
Him, Liam, the bastard child of a long dead race.  
  
Yes, maybe willing himself to die wasn't such a bad idea after all.  
  
It would be the best for all.  
  
He could do it.  
  
No one would miss him.  
  
All he had to do was stop breathing.  
  
But a little voice in the back of his head stopped him.  
  
"Hang in there !" it said. "Someone is coming for you.."  
  
And Liam continued to breathe...  
  
-------  
  
Kimeran Mastship "Justice", enroute to Earth  
  
-------  
  
Earth.  
  
Why did it, of all the planets in the Universe, have to be Earth ?  
  
Anr'el leaned back tiredly in her commandchair.  
  
Her greenglowing body make almost no impression in the soft material.  
  
"Are we certain about the location ?" she asked her second in command, Ca'el.  
  
"Yes. All indicators points towards this part of space as the origin of the   
  
mental scream. And we already know,   
  
that Hag'el died there, in a city named Washington." Ca'el's voice was   
  
confident. "It'd possible he left a child there.   
  
Maybe more"  
  
Anr'el sighed.  
  
Earth.  
  
A most dangerous place.  
  
The planet and it's inhabitants, who called themselves "Humans", had a long   
  
history of wars and paranoia.  
  
Pure insanity, she mused.  
  
Even animals knew better than to fight their own kind if it could be avoided.  
  
Which was why First Contact had never been initiated.  
  
They needed to evolve.   
  
A lot.  
  
"The Taelons ?" she asked.  
  
"Gone. After what our informants were able to find out, they left after an   
  
altercation with the local resistance   
  
movement." Ca'el checked his datapad. "Since then, there are no news from that   
  
starsystem."  
  
Anr'el leaned even further back and felt the cool bioslurry adjust to her body.  
  
She closed her eyes and carefully tested the mental bond to the Child, that the   
  
Commonality had been able to   
  
establish in that splitsecond, when the Child had screamed.  
  
It seemed to be getting stronger with each parsec they got closer to Earth,   
  
although it was still very weak, like the   
  
bond between an unborn and it's parent. Mostly a jumble of vague emotions.   
  
And it seemed to be one way.  
  
She opened her eyes and the blue-in-blue orbs glowed with a cold fury.  
  
They would find it.  
  
And if the "Humans" had hurt it, this precious Child, they would pay.  
  
Dearly.  
  
"We are coming, Little One. We are coming."  
  
-------  
  
Beneath the Pentagon, a hallway  
  
-------  
  
"Is IT talking ?"  
  
"No, the subject have shown itself amazingly resilient towards pain. Must have   
  
something to do with what It went   
  
through during the Taelon Occupation. But the physical part is only meant to be   
  
a means of weakening It's   
  
resistance anyway. We plan to move on with the mental conditioning as soon as   
  
possible." The Man smiled coldly.   
  
He loved making people talk.   
  
And this subject wasn't even human.  
  
THAT little fact only made the entire thing even more fun. He didn't have to   
  
worry about anyone getting emotional   
  
about It.  
  
"Whatever it takes. Just get the info." The other man said, starting towards the   
  
nearby elevator.   
  
The Man's smile grew bigger, a gleam of sadistic pleasure appearing in his eyes.   
  
He had just been given Carte Blanche and he knew it.  
  
He watched as the elevatordoors closed behind Hubble Urick, then went back to   
  
his office to prepare this afternoons   
  
little "Chat" with the Alien.  
  
He had a couple of new Taelon toys he wanted to try out....  
  
Unnoticed by either, a door leading to a nearby cell lane had been standing   
  
slightly open and the prisoners had   
  
been able to hear everything.  
  
Internally putting every piece of gossip they heard in this place together with   
  
the events leading up to their own   
  
arrest, there was only one person, the two men could have been talking about.   
  
Liam.  
  
Colonel Liam Neville Kincaid and his ODK team took one look at eachother through   
  
the virtual glass barriers of   
  
their cells, reaching a mutual understanding in a split second.   
  
They had to get out.   
  
Soon.  
  
And they were taking Liam with them.  
  
Bettis continued working on how to override the security systems in the cells.   
  
Previously it had only been about their own lives, but now someone else's was at   
  
stake as well.  
  
He had to figure something out soon.  
  
"I wonder what Augur would have done" he mumbled, almost inaudible.  
  
-------  
  
Doors International  
  
Washington DC  
  
-------  
  
"WHAT !!!!!!" Augurs disbelieving voice was clearly audible even through the   
  
doors of Renee's office.  
  
"I said; You can't help the dead !" Renee's cold voice answered.   
  
"Liam's DEAD ! Get it into that thick skull of yours. And he's better of dead   
  
anyway." Renee massaged her neck,   
  
the stress of running Doors International was getting to her.  
  
"HE IS NOT DEAD !" Augurs voice rose in volume, as he grabbed the back of the   
  
chair in front of him, almost as   
  
if trying to break it in half.   
  
"AND IF YOU COULD GET OF YOUR HIGH HORSE LONG ENOUGH TO LISTEN TO ME, YOU WOULD   
  
KNOW THAT !!! AND WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU MEAN BY "HE'S BETTER OF DEAD ANYWAY"????"   
  
Augur made a visible attempt to get himself under control, barely obtaining a   
  
fragile hold on his emotions.   
  
It wouldn't help the kid, if he got tossed in jail for threatening the president   
  
of Doors International.  
  
"I meant what I said: He's better of dead. He was the last of his kind, didn't   
  
fit in here." Renee sighed inwardly.   
  
She should have know, that Augur would come up with something like this.   
  
That Sandoval apparently was backing him in this insanity was a little bit of a   
  
surprise though.   
  
But then again, who knew what went on in that implanted brain of his.   
  
"I CANNOT believe you !" Augur came close to loosing his temper again.   
  
It rarely happened, but something about Renee's attitude towards Liam had always   
  
managed to get his protective   
  
hackles up.  
  
"The Kid saves your life multiple times, frees an entire PLANET for crying out   
  
loud, and all you can say is "He   
  
didn't fit in" ???!!"  
  
"He wasn't one of us Augur ! He was a freaking ALIEN for Gods sake !" Renee was   
  
getting worked up herself.   
  
How dared he come in here and claim she owned Liam ANYTHING ?!   
  
She was the president of Doors International, an important person, busy as hell,   
  
and he wanted her to drop   
  
EVERYTHING to go of on a wild goosechase ?  
  
Augur was stunned.  
  
He had expected many things from Renee Palmer, but not this.  
  
Not this kind of racism.  
  
"I guess the truth is out now, isn't it ? You know, I shouldn't be surprised.   
  
Your actions in the past clearly should   
  
have told me, that you were like this: You laughed at him everytime his heritage   
  
came up, like the incident with   
  
Kud'on. Or when the entire thing with Ma'els ship, when you couldn't get out of   
  
that rescue pod fast enough: It   
  
wasn't about your claustrophobia at all, was it ? You wanted to get away from   
  
Liam as fast as possible." Augur's   
  
disgust started to surface as the initial shock wore of.   
  
"You know, it wasn't so long ago, when someone looking like me, with the wrong   
  
skincolor, couldn't go into the   
  
same restroom as the whites." Augur said in a deceptively calm voice.  
  
"It's NOTHING like that ! First of all, Liam was not even HUMAN !! And I've got   
  
responsibilities now !" Renee   
  
fumed. How DARED he accuse her of being racistic.  
  
"And sometimes racism isn't about skincolor, Renee ! The Kid gave up literally   
  
EVERYTHING for us ! From day   
  
one, he fought for us, could have died several times during these last 6 years.   
  
But that wasn't enough for you was it   
  
?   
  
Well, let me share a little secret with you: Being human isn't about what your   
  
genetic code, it's about your   
  
behaviour."   
  
With that last sentiment Augur stormed out of the office, slamming the door   
  
behind him.  
  
Renee sighed. That had not been pleasant, to say the least.   
  
For a moment, Renee contemplated the entire incident. Should she alert someone   
  
to Augurs erratic behaviour ?  
  
No, he would soon realise his mistake on his own.   
  
Liam was dead, she had a company to lead (not to mention a party the same   
  
evening) and absolutely not time for   
  
this.  
  
A little voice tried to reason with her, but was quickly suppressed.  
  
Earth was free, everything was peace, she had everything she ever wanted.  
  
And sometimes your dreams and personal freedom comes with the price of your   
  
soul. 


	2. 2

-------  
  
Dr Belmans clinic   
  
downtown Washington  
  
-------  
  
While Augur had his little shouting match with Renee in one end of the city,   
  
Sandoval had a more pleasing   
  
conversation in the other end of the city with Dr Belman.  
  
She had not been hard to convince to help out.  
  
Sandoval watched as she packed up a medical bag of what they might need when   
  
they got Liam back and cancelled   
  
all of her appointments in the immediate future.  
  
Her reaction to his news had been most surprising.   
  
It hadn't taken 5 minutes to for her to accept his story, even with the weak   
  
evidence he had to support it.   
  
He didn't even have to ask for her help, she had immediately jumped in and   
  
offered on her own.  
  
"Do we know, which state he's gonna be in ?" Juliana really didn't want to know,   
  
but had to ask.   
  
If Liam didn't get the proper treatment and died as a result, she would never   
  
forgive herself.  
  
"No, but there's a strong possibilities, that it's bad. Really, really bad."   
  
Sandoval's CVI started conjuring up the   
  
different possibilities, even some he had done to Liam, or others, himself while   
  
working for the Taelons, and he   
  
shuddered.   
  
"Basically anything goes then." Juliana sighed, then closed her bag, hoping she   
  
had everything necessary.  
  
"OK, let's go !"  
  
-------  
  
Kimeran Mastship "Justice"  
  
orbiting Earth.  
  
-------  
  
"Keep us in ID space. No use in letting the humans know, what is going on until   
  
we have located the Child."   
  
Anr'el ordered.  
  
Ca'el simply nodded.  
  
"Open hailing frequencies to the rest of the fleet." As it was being done,   
  
Anr'el, and every other Kimeran in the   
  
fleet, suddenly received a flash of intense pain through the now strong bond   
  
with the Child.   
  
A picture of a human, a perverse pleasure shining in his eyes, imprinted itself   
  
in the mind of every member of the   
  
fleet.   
  
A cry of rage rang though the Commonality, making it's way all the way through   
  
time and space back to Kimera   
  
Prime, as they realised what was happening.  
  
He was tormenting the Child.  
  
And he was enjoying it.  
  
Anr'el shook with anger as she managed to shake the picture from her mind.   
  
He would pay for this.  
  
They all would.  
  
In that moment, there was nothing she would rather do than reduce Earth to a   
  
pile of ashes.   
  
-------  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
Interrogation Room  
  
-------  
  
The pain was subsiding slowly.   
  
The Taelon device had been deactivated for the time being.  
  
He found himself shaking with anger as the cloud of pain eased.  
  
He should be afraid, but for some reason he found himself angry instead.  
  
How dare these people do this to him ?  
  
Then the Man reactivated the device and this time, Liam screamed.  
  
The Man couldn't understand it.  
  
Up until now, things had gone according to plan.   
  
It had been afraid.  
  
It had been in pain.  
  
It had been close to breaking.  
  
But now, in that last scream, he had sensed something different.   
  
It was angry.   
  
Very, very angry.  
  
And anger tended to mess up even the best interrogations.  
  
Emotions like that hardened the resolve of the subject, instead of the weakening   
  
he was aiming at.  
  
It was weird.  
  
But then again, this WAS an Alien.  
  
And who knew what a freak like that would react like.  
  
He turned around to pick up another little toy from a nearby table.  
  
Maybe a little more pain could do it.  
  
He didn't notice the faint glow, which emanated from Liam's hands for a few   
  
seconds.  
  
-------  
  
Kimeran Mastship "Justice"  
  
Orbiting Earth  
  
-------  
  
The pain was fading slowly.  
  
At least for now.  
  
She knew it would be back, though.   
  
And this time worse.  
  
It always came back worse.  
  
But what was more important was the fact that Anr'el had been able to detect the   
  
faintest of responses from the   
  
Child's mind, on what she suspected to be a subconscious level.  
  
Maybe they could spare this Little One from the worst of the pain.  
  
She leaned back in her chair and entered the floating reality of the Kimeran   
  
Commonality.  
  
A soothing murmur of voices rose to greet her.  
  
"We need to set up some sort of mental pain shield to help the Child through   
  
this." she send  
  
"But the link is so weak....How do we know, this can be done ? The Child have   
  
lived so long without a true   
  
connection to us....."  
  
"But if we don't try, then maybe all of this will be in vain...Even if we found   
  
him alive, who knows, which damage   
  
the Little One's mind have taken due to this...this incarnation of evil...."  
  
"It HAS been done before. But we cannot take away the pain completely...Only   
  
share it...."  
  
"If we were to share it between the members of the fleet, each one taking a   
  
little part of it...It would be   
  
bearable....But someone would have to channel it..."  
  
"It would have to be me...For some reason, my connection to him is the   
  
strongest...I sensed a weak response the   
  
last time we connected to him...No one else did....."  
  
"You are the commander of the fleet, friend Anr'el...If something critical was   
  
to happen to the Child...It would hit   
  
you to...."  
  
"In such a situation, Ca'el is qualified enough to handle things until I am able   
  
to return to duty...."  
  
"Then so be it...."  
  
"Thank you"  
  
The connection was made....  
  
-------  
  
Interrogation Room  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
-------  
  
He felt odd.   
  
For a second it had been like someone entered his mind, like the Sharing he had   
  
once done with Da'an, but on a   
  
deeper, more intimate level...  
  
Odd...  
  
And now he felt almost numb in comparison to the excruciating pain he had felt   
  
before.  
  
He vaguely remembered this level of pain as to being close to no pain at all,   
  
but with the level of abuse, he had   
  
taken these last couple of days, he hardly remembered what it was like NOT to be   
  
in pain anymore.  
  
Maybe that last device had done some damage to his tactile senses....  
  
But he was careful not to show his sudden lack of pain.   
  
He was afraid of what the Man would do next, if he found out, that he was no   
  
longer responding to pain.  
  
Liam felt a flare of hope.  
  
Maybe he COULD get out of this alive.  
  
He needed a plan.....  
  
-------  
  
Kimeran Mastship "Justice"  
  
Orbiting Earth  
  
-------  
  
The Connection had taken.   
  
Anr'el could feel the relief and hope, which flared in the Child's mind due to   
  
the absence of pain.  
  
But not much else.  
  
Anr'el frowned as she opened her eyes.  
  
At this point, the Child should be able to sense her and to respond to her   
  
presence in it's mind.   
  
Especially since the Child was obviously a strong mind.  
  
The bursts of pain and the cry, which had reached Kimera Prime had shown that.   
  
It took strength to not only send over that kind of distances but also break   
  
through the strong mental barriers that   
  
all Kimera had from natures hand.  
  
But the Little One didn't respond to her easily detectable presence at all.  
  
There was something deeply wrong here....  
  
Ca'els voice called her back to the matters at hand.  
  
Thanks to the new link, the danger of a sudden flare of pain like the previous   
  
ones was gone.  
  
They now had an open connection and the pain flowed slowly out of the child and   
  
into every member of the fleet,   
  
making it manageable.  
  
Anr'el wished that there had been no pain at all, but as it was, this was the   
  
best solution.  
  
"Send down the search teams, two people on each. Concentrate on the major   
  
cities, especially this Washington DC   
  
area where Hag'el was killed.   
  
We need to find some sort of lead on this Child's identity.   
  
Hack into the portal system for access to the planet and use the Jaridian   
  
shielding technology to remain undetected   
  
until the teams have found suitable DNA profiles to replicate a human guise   
  
from." Anr'el ordered, eager to get to   
  
this Little One and get him away from who ever was hurting him.  
  
"I will go to Washington myself as well. Ca'el, you stay here until further   
  
notice. I need you to take over in the   
  
event that anything unforeseen happens to me."  
  
Ca'el started to protest "But..."  
  
"Do not worry, nothing will happen, but just in case, I need someone capable up   
  
here. I have left orders in the main   
  
databanks as of what to do, if the worst thing happens. You have the bridge."  
  
Anr'el quickly made her way to the ID-portal before Ca'el had another chance to   
  
protest.  
  
If the situation had been less grave, she would have smiled at the confusion   
  
radiating from her second in   
  
command.   
  
He, too, was still so very young.  
  
-------  
  
Main portal  
  
Washington DC  
  
-------  
  
Craig Johnson had the dubious honour of taking care of the arrivals in this   
  
always too busy part of the portal   
  
system.  
  
He hated it, but he was one of the few who had qualified for the job.  
  
Strange..  
  
For a second his screen had flickered.  
  
Even stranger was the fact, that the monitor showed 25 arrivals from Bangladesh   
  
instead of the 24 expected.  
  
He quickly counted heads..  
  
No, only 24 was standing on the platform...  
  
Maybe some sort of weird glitch.   
  
Even Taelon computers could be wrong.   
  
And no one had triple helix DNA anyway.   
  
Well, there was that alien guy, what was his name Lium..Lee...LIAM !...  
  
But he was dead.  
  
Nah, probably just a glitch.  
  
But just to be on the safe side, he checked his monitor again.  
  
Now the records only showed the 24 scheduled arrivals.   
  
Yup, just a glitch.   
  
Better get maintenance down here after closing hours....  
  
He didn't notice how the leaves of a nearby plant waved as something invisible   
  
edged it's way around it to avoid   
  
colliding with a small group of travellers.  
  
-------  
  
The Lair  
  
Beneath Saint Michael's Church  
  
-------  
  
The 4 people in the Lair was getting low on ideas.   
  
Every data bank, every lead, every avenue had been exhausted in the search for   
  
Liam.   
  
Street sighed, stretched her arms above and beyond her head to relieve her   
  
aching neck muscles.  
  
"If only we where connected to some sort of Commonality, like that one the   
  
Taelons have, then Liam would be able   
  
to tell us where he was...."she mumbled incoherently, fighting a big yawn.  
  
"What did you say ?!" Augur said, straightening up.  
  
"I said "To bad, that we are not connected to a Commonality.."" The baffled   
  
Street repeated, only to be rudely   
  
interrupted by an eager shout from Augur.  
  
"Of cause !!! The Commonality !!"  
  
He jumped up and stormed over to one of his backup units.  
  
Sandoval, who had been half asleep (even implants get affected when they don't   
  
sleep for days) draped over the   
  
couch, reacted on the sudden movement with the instinct of long practice and   
  
jump upright, raising his now   
  
skrillless arm in front of him.  
  
"Augur ?" He asked, then realised what he was doing. And for the first time   
  
since the Government stripped him of   
  
his skrill counterpart, he was glad.   
  
If he HAD been armed, Augur would have been a black spot on the wall by now.  
  
"The Commonality, Sandoval !" Augur was shifting through old datapads until he   
  
found the right one.  
  
"Remember when Da'an turned into an Atavus ?"  
  
Sandoval nodded. That one had been kind of hard to forget, even without a CVI.  
  
"Well, it happened because I hacked into the frequencies the Taelon Commonality   
  
uses for communication. Later   
  
we used the same technique to shield Beli'al from detection." He said.  
  
"But what has that got to do with Liam ? And how to find him ?" Sandoval asked,   
  
more than a little confused.  
  
"Well, as I remember it, the Kimera has the same sort of thing going on, a   
  
Commonality, I mean. Only with the   
  
difference, that they are not depend on it to survive, right ?" The last part   
  
was directed at Dr Belman, who had just   
  
joined them.  
  
"Yes, that's true...But what..." She was as confused as Sandoval.  
  
"Well, if the Taelons was able to track someone using their Commonality   
  
signature, then we should be able to do   
  
the same thing. Only this time we use Liam's signature." Augur continued while   
  
loading in the data from the   
  
datappad in the mainframe.  
  
"But we don't know Liam's frequency. Or if he has one at all." Street piped in.  
  
"It's worth a shot though." Juliana said.   
  
"OK, let's start by filtering out the normal stuff: Television, radio,   
  
airlines...." Augurs voice trailed of as he started   
  
the search.  
  
--------  
  
ODK Cell  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
--------  
  
Bettis was FINALLY getting somewhere.  
  
He had discovered a weak point in the virtual glass barrier leading up to the   
  
concrete wall, which were the other 3   
  
walls of his little cell.  
  
The weak point was a small hole between the barrier and the wall, granted not   
  
big, but if he could connect the   
  
barrier to the electrical wire of the controlbox right next to it.....  
  
The surge created by the hot-wire should be enough to destabilise the for long   
  
enough for him to get out and then   
  
he could get the others out as well.  
  
He could use his glasses.   
  
They had a metal frame.   
  
That should be able to do it.  
  
He quickly made eye contact with the Colonel, then made a small nod, to let him   
  
know, that he was ready to move   
  
at anytime now.....  
  
Colonel Kincaid had a hard time suppressing the smile, which threatened to show.   
  
Finally.  
  
On a small handsignal, his men got ready to move......  
  
When Bettis saw, that the other members of the small ODK team was ready, he made   
  
his move.  
  
Under the pretence of cleaning his glasses, he carefully bended the frame in an   
  
angle, which would make it   
  
possible for him to insert it into the joint of the controlbox while keeping it   
  
connected to the Virtual Glass barrier.   
  
With a little bit of luck, he would make some sort of connection with the   
  
uninsulated end of an electrical cord.   
  
Otherwise they were screwed, to put it mildly.  
  
They had made other escape attempts, but without any luck and the punishments   
  
had been dire.   
  
This time, there were no room for error.  
  
They needed to get the kid out.  
  
Bettis casually made his way to the weak point in the barrier.  
  
Colonel Kincaid, or Zeke as the others called him, watched as Bettis got ready   
  
to do his little piece of magic.  
  
While he waited, he allowed his thoughts to stray, thinking about the other   
  
person, they were hoping to get out of   
  
here with them.  
  
Liam, the man ,or rather child, he had allowed to borrow his name for a while,   
  
was a good person.   
  
Zeke had seen others break under the kind pressure he had been put under.   
  
But not Liam.  
  
His actions during the Taelon occupation had shown his courage, his intelligence   
  
and compassion.   
  
But there was more it than that.  
  
It was a deep belief, that someday, things were going to be ok, a never wavering   
  
hope of a better world.  
  
OK, so Liam was basically a kid caught in a grown body, but still....Liam wasn't   
  
na‹ve, he was just....  
  
Zeke couldn't seem to find the words.   
  
Then again, he had never had a big way with them.  
  
What the hell was Bettis up to ? He seemed to use his glasses to.....  
  
In that instant, a big blue spark was drawn between the control box and the   
  
Virtual Glass of Bettis's cell.  
  
Zeke could only watch helplessly as Bettis was thrown backwards through the air   
  
as a result of the electrical surge.  
  
And then the Virtual Barriers went down.  
  
-------  
  
The Mans office  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
-------  
  
The Man was sitting in deep thoughts.   
  
Something was wrong.  
  
The subject didn't respond as it should.  
  
Things had been going fine even after the unexpected burst of anger in It, but   
  
something had happened.  
  
He didn't know what and it annoyed him.  
  
He took pride in his work.  
  
Maybe there was some other way of making It talk.  
  
Maybe it was time for the mental conditioning.   
  
He was pulled out of his planning as the shrill sound of klaxons broke the   
  
silence.  
  
One of his labassitants slammed the door open, breathlessly.  
  
"The ODK people have escaped ! They are on the loose somewhere in the complex."  
  
This was NOT a good day.  
  
"Well, don't just stand there, man ! Help round them up !" The Man bellowed.  
  
No, not a good day at all.  
  
------  
  
Saint Michael's Church  
  
Washington DC  
  
Only moments earlier  
  
------  
  
She had come here, to the place where he had died, trying to understand the   
  
motivations, which had lead Hag'el to   
  
father a child under the dire circumstances, in which he had been at the time.   
  
She hadn't understood it.   
  
She sat down, barely acknowledging the 5f10 Asian man, who went past her, his   
  
trenchcoat brushing against the   
  
clothes, that her human host had been wearing, when she choose her.  
  
A small smile curled her lips, as she felt the Child fall asleep.  
  
The Child's mental barriers were down.  
  
Carefully, she entered her bond with the Little One.  
  
-------  
  
Liam's Cell  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
-------  
  
They had stopped the interrogation only hours ago, and he was getting some much   
  
needed rest.  
  
He was dreaming.  
  
But it wasn't peaceful.  
  
Nor was it the nightmares one would expect.  
  
He found himself completely lucid as he watched the strange starscape spread out   
  
over a mountain range, which he   
  
was pretty sure had no equivalent in the real world.  
  
"At least not in the world, that you know, Little One."  
  
He whipped around, eyes wide with surprise.  
  
The words had not been in an Earth language.   
  
Nor had they been Taelon.  
  
What he saw made his breath catch.  
  
It was a being made solely of pure, green energy.  
  
Blue orbs made it out for eyes.  
  
It was Kimeran.  
  
But that was impossible.  
  
Hag'el had been the last.  
  
"No. Hag'el was NOT the last."   
  
She, he pretty sure it was a female, smiled at him, apparently reading his mind.  
  
"Liam, old boy, you are loosing it." He mumbled to himself.  
  
Anr'el laughed out loud, a burst of melodic sounds coming out of her mouth.  
  
"Believe me, you are not going insane."   
  
She smiled again, a little wider this time.   
  
She was so happy, it had only been minutes since she had entered the bond.  
  
She hadn't expected a result this fast.  
  
"Liam, is that your name ?"  
  
The inquiry was meet with a silent nod.   
  
He still couldn't quite believe it.   
  
Dream or reality ?   
  
He didn't know and, quite frankly, he didn't care right now.  
  
He was no longer alone.  
  
"Do you like this view ?" She decided to keep the Little One occupied with idle   
  
conversation for a while.   
  
She could sense the weariness in him.  
  
"Very much. It's not so bad for a dream I guess." Liam answered.   
  
He silently wondered if this was some sort of remains of that sudden re-  
  
emergence of his Shaqarava all those   
  
months, which sometimes seemed an entire lifetime, ago, but the bloodscans   
  
Juliana had run afterwards had shown   
  
nothing out of the ordinary.   
  
No 3rd helix, no weird energy readings.  
  
He had decided, that it was a one time thing.   
  
And at the time he had only been grateful, that he had been able to save his   
  
fathers life.  
  
Anr'el turned to him again.  
  
"Oh, it's no dream, Child. Well, not really. More like a memory.  
  
This is the area I live in at Kimera Prime.   
  
But I forget myself. My name is Anr'el. I am the Commander of the Kimeran   
  
warfleet."   
  
"Warfleet ? But I thought that the Kimera was peaceful ? And how can you be here   
  
? This is my mind !" Liam   
  
asked, wondering about both the apparent disreprency between the words   
  
"Peaceful" and "Warfleet" as well as why   
  
he was having this conversation at all.  
  
She sighed.   
  
She had been doing a lot of that lately it seemed.  
  
"We may be peaceful, but after the war with the Taelons, when we were all but   
  
extinct, it was decided never to be   
  
that defenceless again. We only use it to defend ourselves or" she smiled   
  
crookedly "getting our Children back."  
  
Liam blushed slightly as he caught onto her meaning.  
  
Only Augur and Lilly had called him a Kid before.  
  
The rest of the world only saw him as an adult.  
  
He missed that.  
  
He returned his attention to Anr'el as she continued.  
  
"As for my ability to be here; You have your own, weak link to our Commonality,   
  
it became active only days ago,   
  
when you were threatened by the people who holds you now. Through me, and our   
  
close proximity to Earth, we   
  
have been able to strengthen that link."  
  
"Close proximity ?"  
  
"Yes, the fleet is currently orbiting Earth in ID-space. We are looking for   
  
you."  
  
"I still don't believe this is reality.   
  
Hag'el was the LAST !" Liam stubbornly held onto his belief.   
  
He couldn't afford to get his hopes up now.  
  
If this too burst like a bubble....  
  
His heart wouldn't survive.  
  
"He believed that so strongly, because he never tried to reenter the   
  
Commonality. If he had, he would have found   
  
us. And you would not have been alone for all this time." She moved closer. "But   
  
there's only one way of   
  
convincing you, that this is real. Share with me ?" She held out her left hand.  
  
Liam hesitated.   
  
Should he do this ?  
  
Then he slowly raise his own left hand.  
  
And was brutally wakened by the sound of a blaring klaxon.  
  
------  
  
The Lair  
  
Beneath Saint Michael's Church.  
  
------  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Augur jerked with surprise as the scream of a woman echoed   
  
through the cave, carried   
  
perfectly through the monitoring devices left in the church.  
  
Sandoval had just left, wanting to get some stuff from his apartment (and   
  
getting some of Augurs stuff from the   
  
Flat Planet as well).  
  
Exchanging looks with both Dr Belman and Street, he quickly flipped up the   
  
picture from the church up on the   
  
main screen.   
  
What they saw made his throat tighten.  
  
It was a woman.  
  
But not just any woman.  
  
She was glowing a brightly green, sobbing as had her heart just broken.  
  
The pain was almost unbearable.  
  
Anr'el found herself hugging her own body, instinctually curling up in a foetal   
  
position, in an attempt to stop it and   
  
her human facade almost collapsed as she realised, that the abrupt ending of the   
  
link with the Child had also   
  
severed her own connection to the Commonality.  
  
She still had a the link with the child, which allowed her to share his pain,   
  
but not much else.   
  
And now she carried the pain all by herself.  
  
Her and the Child.  
  
That was the most agonising thing of it all.  
  
She had been so CLOSE to actually creating a REAL link with him.   
  
One that would have allowed him to communicate with the Commonality himself and   
  
allow them to find him.  
  
But had failed.  
  
And now Liam was paying the price.  
  
All by himself.  
  
-------  
  
Kimeran Mastship "Justice"  
  
Orbiting Earth.  
  
-------  
  
Ca'el gasped as Anr'el's connection was severed.  
  
He could only hope, that it was nothing seriously.  
  
"What was the Commanders last position ?" he demanded, intent on getting to the   
  
bottom of this.  
  
"Something called Saint Michael's Church" came the reply from one of the cons.  
  
"Get a team there immediately."  
  
------  
  
The Lair  
  
------  
  
The trio was still watching in stunned shock at the screen.  
  
Both Augur and Dr Belman had seen this kind of creature before, when Boone had   
  
confronted Hag'el in the very   
  
same church as this new alien was in.  
  
But this was impossible.  
  
The Kimera was dead.  
  
Liam had told them as much.  
  
Dr Belman made a quick decision and headed for the elevator.  
  
"Where are you going" Augur asked, slowly coming out of the shock.  
  
"Out there. Who ever, and what ever, she is, she needs help and a place to hide   
  
until we figure out what to do with   
  
her." Juliana was wearing her no nonsense face, the one normally only reserved   
  
to difficult patients.   
  
And Augur knew better than to argue with her when she was wearing THAT   
  
expression.   
  
"Be careful. Remember what Hag'el did to Boone." He warned, not wanting to loose   
  
another friend.  
  
"Boone was threatening Hag'el with a Skrill. I have no intention of doing the   
  
same. "Julianna said as the liftdoors   
  
closed behind her.  
  
"Boone ? Hag'el ? Augur, what's going on here ?" Street was confused.   
  
What did a dead protector and exresistance guy have to do with an alien and what   
  
ever that thing was out there in   
  
the church ?  
  
"Long story for a long winters evening, kid. Right now I better keep an eye on   
  
the church."  
  
------  
  
Saint Michael's Church  
  
------  
  
She was slowly getting her act together.   
  
Although it took some time, she managed to push down the pain and she was about   
  
to do an attempt to rebuild her   
  
facade, when she suddenly heard footsteps coming closer.   
  
"Hello ?" The voice was female, and just a little bit nervous.   
  
Anr'el looked around frantically.  
  
She needed a place to hide until she had rebuild her disguise completely.  
  
She quickly hid behind a pillar, rebuilding her human guise as she went to   
  
dampen the glow.  
  
Juliana entered the main ship of the church, moving carefully and as   
  
nonthreatning as she could.  
  
She had seen what kind of damage the shaqarava could do, having been the first   
  
doctor on scene as Hag'el and   
  
Boone had ended their stand-off.   
  
She really didn't want to end up like that.   
  
But if this WAS a Kimera, then maybe some of the questions Liam had could   
  
finally be answered and maybe, just   
  
maybe, he would finally come to accept what an unique creature he was by getting   
  
to know a member of his fathers   
  
species.  
  
And thus accept himself.  
  
She had watched him struggle with his strange heritage from day one, watched as   
  
he came to loathe and fear what   
  
he was.   
  
Watched as his world came down as his heritage suddenly re-emerged from whatever   
  
dark part of his mind he had   
  
subconsciously abolished it to.  
  
And watched as his eyes lit up in joy and hope as she told him, that except from   
  
his still very high brainwave   
  
activity, she could find no other trace of his alien heritage.  
  
The poor boy had so much wanted to fit in, that she had not been able to tell   
  
him the truth, that his 3rd DNA helix   
  
had indeed come back.   
  
And that his energy signature had shown a strong increase instead of a decrease.  
  
He had so wanted to fit in.  
  
And people, the humans, HER species, had not wanted him.  
  
Despite it all.  
  
So if this Alien could help him, then she, Juliana Belman, MD, would do whatever   
  
she could to make it happen.   
  
"I know that you are still in here somewhere. The Kimera can do a lot of things,   
  
but teleportation is not one of   
  
them." She spoke out loud, trying, again, not to be to threatening in her   
  
demeanour.   
  
Thank God the church was empty this time of day.  
  
Anr'el's jaw almost dropped when the woman made that remark.  
  
How could she know about the Kimera ?.  
  
She quickly contemplated the situation.  
  
The woman was, as far as Anr'el could see, not armed.  
  
She made an effort to seem nonthreatning.  
  
And she was apparently alone.  
  
Anr'el decided to gamble a little.  
  
"What do you want ? And how do you know of the Kimera ?"  
  
Juliana almost jumped out of her skin at the sudden voice.  
  
It came from the darkness behind a pillar and she had a little bit of a hard   
  
time seeing anything at that distance   
  
without her glasses.  
  
Damned pride, she cursed inwardly.  
  
"Almost 6 years ago, I saw the result of a fight between a protector and a   
  
Kimera, Hag'el. And I watched the child   
  
of that Kimera grow up. Up until now, I, we all believed, that Hag'el was the   
  
last."  
  
She squinted, trying to separate details in the shadow.  
  
Something moved.  
  
"How do you know I was here ?" Anr'el asked, moving out of the shadow, keeping   
  
her hands in front of her,   
  
shaqarava glowing faintly.  
  
Downstairs, Augur tensed. Now it got dangerous.  
  
If Juliana made one wrong move, she could end up dead.  
  
The two females were studying eachother intently, to gauge the other ones   
  
actions and motives.  
  
"There is an old resistance HQ below this church. We heard you scream over some   
  
old monitoring devices we   
  
haven't dismantled yet."   
  
Juliana decided to go for the full package.   
  
"Hag'el child, Liam, is in danger. We could really use your help."   
  
She didn't add, that she thought this one was in danger as well, were the public   
  
to find out about her. She was still   
  
shocked at the things they had done to Liam before his "death".  
  
Anr'el contemplated the offer for a while. Then opened her mouth to give her   
  
answer.   
  
But never got the chance say anything as 2 of her fellow Kimera burst in the   
  
door, shaqarava glowing. 


	3. 3

------  
  
Liam Apartment  
  
The Flat Planet Cafe  
  
Meanwhile  
  
------  
  
Sandoval had decided, on a whim, to come here first, before going to pick up the   
  
extra set of clothes for him and   
  
Augur.   
  
He wanted to get a look at the place Liam had called home.   
  
He had been surprised to find it so spartan furnished, only a padded chair and a   
  
couch in the main room with a low   
  
table in between.   
  
A few, overstuffed bookshelves on the walls and a rarely used kitchen.  
  
Upstairs a bedroom with bathroom and that was it.   
  
He went to study the booktitles and came across a photo of himself, as well as   
  
one of Siobhan Beckett.   
  
A couple of facts added, some more parts clicked in the riddle that was Liam,   
  
all to support the suspicions he   
  
already had.  
  
He sighed as he took the picture of Siobahn down, studying it.  
  
It was a cut-out from a newspaper, taken in connection with his and Boone's   
  
investigations in Strandhill.   
  
Now he understood Liam's reactions in the cave, when she had died, better.  
  
They had not been lovers as he had suspected at a point in time.  
  
She had been his mother.  
  
He slowly replaced the photo on the shelf.  
  
Right next to it was a completed Taelon puzzle.  
  
He smiled slightly.   
  
He had always thought of Liam as intelligent, but a completed Taelon Puzzle ?  
  
Even Earth's greatest minds could spend months without solving one of these.   
  
But not his kid.  
  
His eyes widened in surprise.  
  
There, he had admitted it to himself.  
  
Liam was his son.  
  
He needed to find him.  
  
To get his forgiveness for what he had done to him.  
  
But most of all, even if Liam could never forgive him, he needed to know, that   
  
his son was alive and safe.  
  
Then his eyes narrowed again, his face changing into a mask of pure   
  
determination.  
  
Liam was his son and God have mercy on the souls of who ever was behind this,   
  
because he would have none.  
  
He quickly went to pack up a few of Liam's things, then left the apartment.  
  
-------  
  
The Airducts  
  
Beneath the Pentagon.  
  
-------  
  
The ODK people were on the run.   
  
As Zeke and the others crawled through narrow tunnels, dragging the still groggy   
  
Bettis after them, Zeke started to   
  
make up plans.   
  
So far everything was going smoothly.  
  
They had managed to get their hands on a few handweapons and to get into the   
  
ventilation system without anyone   
  
noticing.  
  
Now all they needed was:  
  
A: a way out  
  
and   
  
B: To locate Liam.  
  
Problem B solved itself shortly there after as he saw Liam in a cell through an   
  
airvent.  
  
He was sitting on a bunk in a small cell, smaller than the ones he and his   
  
people had been in, cradling his head in   
  
his hands with a pained expression on his face, apparently trying block out the   
  
sound of the klaxons.  
  
Dear God, what had these bastards done to him ?  
  
If it looked this bad from a distance, how would he look up front.  
  
"Leave Bettis here for the moment. The rest follow me." He ordered, his voice   
  
barely a whisper.  
  
------  
  
The Mans office  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
------  
  
He had just finished reviewing the tapes of the escape of the ODK people, which   
  
had taken place only minutes   
  
earlier.  
  
Very imaginative.  
  
They had to find somewhere safer to keep them when they recaught them.   
  
And then he could get back to questioning the freak.  
  
His eyes narrowed.  
  
From the preliminary reports he had on their escape, they followed a highly   
  
unusual course through the complex.  
  
They hadn't headed up yet.   
  
What were they up to ?.  
  
What could be keeping them here ?  
  
The other times they had attempted an escape, they had headed straight for some   
  
sort of an exit.   
  
This time, they had instead accessed an airduct.  
  
Colonel Kincaid was not a stupid man, or he would never have made it onto the   
  
ODK teams.  
  
It was almost as they were looking for something....  
  
His eyes widened in shock as realisation struck.  
  
No that was impossible.  
  
They had no way of knowing .....  
  
Slamming up the door of his office, he yelled out an order.  
  
"Get security teams down to cell SL27 RIGHT NOW !"  
  
-------  
  
Liam's Cell  
  
-------  
  
His head was throbbing in agony.  
  
And the pain had returned almost in full.  
  
The sound of the Klaxons tore painfully through his head, making rational   
  
thought almost impossible to attempt.   
  
All he could do was try to block out the sound with his hands.  
  
He jerked backwards in shock as a heavy hand fell on his shoulder.  
  
"Easy, Kid. Let's get you out of here."   
  
He knew that voice from somewhere.  
  
Opening his eyes slightly, he looked into the concerned, and very angry, face of   
  
Colonel Kincaid, one of the few   
  
people, he trusted completely.  
  
Zeke was fuming as he took a good look at the Kid.  
  
These a**holes had done a good job on Liam.  
  
And the look in his eyes....   
  
At that moment, Zeke was ashamed to be American.  
  
This was not supposed to happen in the country of the free where everyone had a   
  
fair chance of making it on their   
  
own and no one was judged on their origins, but on their person.  
  
Look what they had done to this kid.  
  
Zeke could feel the same kind of rage, he was feeling, radiating off from the   
  
men behind him.  
  
They all knew Liam.   
  
They all respected him.  
  
And they all wanted just 5 minutes alone with whomever was responsible for this.  
  
"Common." He pulled Liam up from the bunk, supporting the wobbling figure with   
  
his own body.  
  
One of the others quickly moved over to help on the other side.  
  
Liam winced as his feet hit the floor.   
  
And Zeke noticed for the first time, that not even his feet had been spared for   
  
the torture.  
  
Zekes anger grew.   
  
Right now their mainpriority was to get Liam out, but later.....  
  
Someone would pay.  
  
In blood.  
  
They moved slowly towards the airduct and had almost made it, when suddenly an   
  
ice-cold voice with an amused   
  
tone to it said from somewhere behind them:  
  
"Going somewhere ?"  
  
As the small party spun around, they saw several security details pointing   
  
pulseriffles, no doubt set to maximum   
  
damage, at them.  
  
There was no way of escape.  
  
The Airduct access, their only means of escape, couldn't accommodate them all at   
  
once and to pull an OK-Corral   
  
would only get them killed.  
  
Liam slumped against the older mans body.  
  
Caught.  
  
Again.  
  
And this time, others would be hurt as well.  
  
Again.  
  
Because of him.  
  
Again.  
  
Why couldn't he have been born human ?  
  
Then none of this would have happened.  
  
For a second, he hated Hag'el more than anything else.  
  
A small voice in his head tried to tell him, that Sandoval and multiple others   
  
would have been killed if he had been   
  
fully human, but he refused to listen.   
  
And besides, if it hadn't been for him, they probably wouldn't have gotten into   
  
those lifethreatning situations   
  
anyway.  
  
Zeke cursed inwardly in a dozen or more different languages.  
  
They had been SO close !  
  
But he took great care not to show his frustration.   
  
No use in giving these bastards to much ammo.  
  
And Bettis was still on the loose.  
  
But Liam worried him.   
  
By the way his body had suddenly seemed to loose the last of it's strength, he   
  
could tell that the kid was giving up   
  
hope.  
  
And that was dangerous.  
  
Then one man, the apparent leader, moved towards them and started to speak.  
  
"My dear colonel, you and your people seems to be a lot more resourceful than I   
  
expected. But have no fear, I will   
  
remember that when relocating you." The Man turned his attention to Liam "What I   
  
can't understand is why you   
  
risked your life, and that of your men as well, to rescue this freak of nature."  
  
Zeke's voice took on an icy quality.  
  
"Liam's no freak. He is unique and possible more human than any of us. He's   
  
certainly more human than YOU !"  
  
That remark earned him a hard punch in the stomach.  
  
It hurt, but Zeke would be damned if he showed it.  
  
He didn't even flinch.   
  
Liam, though, felt as if the punch had hit him.  
  
His worst nightmares were coming true.   
  
He was getting people hurt again.  
  
And he didn't know how to stop it.  
  
The Man studied the Colonel and Liam for a while.  
  
And he did notice the slight reaction the subject had when he hit Kincaid.   
  
He studied It a little more intently.  
  
How had It succeeded in letting these people know where It was ?   
  
Telepathy ?  
  
That could also explain, why Colonel Kincaid had chosen to rescue It, or why he   
  
had defended It in the first place.  
  
Yes, some sort of mind control perhaps...  
  
But it seemed to work two ways.  
  
At least on some level.  
  
Maybe if he......   
  
And the Colonel and his men had proven themselves weak by not being able to   
  
fight this kind of mental   
  
manipulation of.  
  
"Bring the subject and the Colonel to the interrogation room. The rest are to be   
  
locked up in their cells again." He   
  
smiled predatorily.  
  
Yes, if It would not talk to spare itself, maybe if he hurt one of it's minions.  
  
In his warped mind, he could not phantom the idea, that maybe the Colonel and   
  
his men had acted on their own   
  
accord out of friendship and care.  
  
Because no one could be friends with an It could they ?  
  
"Oh, and find that last person, the one who got them out. Bettis I believe he's   
  
called.   
  
I believe, they need some new testsubjects in the CVI research department.   
  
And it would be such a waste if we couldn't find a better way of utilising his   
  
potential."  
  
But when the goonsquad went to search the airduct, Bettis was long gone.  
  
-------  
  
Saint Michael's Church  
  
Washington DC  
  
Meanwhile.  
  
-------  
  
Juliana had been so tensed up, that when the doors slammed open, she almost   
  
screamed in fright.  
  
But only almost.  
  
Instead, she acted on instincts developed by years of being in the resistance   
  
and constantly getting caught in   
  
firefights, and dove for cover.   
  
And that was what saved her.  
  
The two Kimera coming in the door fired simultaneously, thinking their commander   
  
in danger.  
  
The raw energy surged through the air, narrowly missing their target and   
  
whizzing closely past Anr'el herself   
  
before it hit a pillar and making it collapse.  
  
"SHEER! (STOP !)"   
  
The two froze to the spot at the very loud, very angry voice of their Commander.  
  
"Seize at once ! Have you learned so little in your time under my command ?"   
  
Anr'el quickly moved over to the fallen human. If she knew ANYTHING, which could   
  
help find the Child, then   
  
she would be very useful indeed.   
  
And these two blunderheads had almost destroyed the chance of learning anything   
  
new.   
  
"Are you two hatchlings still, since you enter a strange place on a strange   
  
planet and more importantly an   
  
unknown situation, supposedly while undercover I might add, showing of your   
  
Shaqarava ?!"  
  
Thank the Universe !   
  
The woman appeared to be stunned, but not hurt.   
  
"Here, let me help you up." Anr'el tried to smile reassuringly, not to sure it   
  
was working and reached out her hand   
  
to the human.  
  
Juliana looked at this being.   
  
The smile looked, well weird.   
  
Not artificial, just as if this person had not tried to smile before.   
  
Slowly she reached out her hand.  
  
And once again the silence was broken, this time by the sound of running feet as   
  
Augur and Street showed up,   
  
heavily armed with energyweapons pointed at the trio of aliens.  
  
"Move away from her! Juliana, are you ok ?" Augur's concerned voice carried   
  
through the now silent church   
  
towards them.  
  
"I am fine. Now put that thing away and lets show our new friends ?" she cast an   
  
inquisitive glance at Anr'el, who   
  
simply nodded. Anything to get the Child back." the lair. The noise of that   
  
blast is sure to call some spectators."   
  
Juliana grabbed the offered hand.  
  
"My name is Juliana Belman. And you are ?"  
  
"I am Anr'el, Commander of the Kimeran Warfleet and Captain of the "Justice".   
  
And these two blunderheads are   
  
Tam'el and Mur'el, SUPPOSEDLY amongst the best of my subordinates." She glared   
  
at them.  
  
The two mentioned Kimera looked very ashamed of themselves, but the message from   
  
Ca'el had been distressing   
  
indeed.  
  
"We are truly sorry, Commander, but when the Commonality lost contact with you   
  
and the Child, Ca'el found it   
  
best to investigate. And when we saw...."Tam'el didn't finish. It was starting   
  
to sound like a really, really bad   
  
excuse.   
  
And they were both in trouble enough as it was.  
  
The Commander hated bad excuses.  
  
"I will deal with this later. When the Child is safe. Now, give me a moment to   
  
reconnect with the commonality.   
  
"Anr'el said, closing her eyes and her human facade fading for a second as she   
  
sought, and found the mind of her   
  
second in command..  
  
"Ca'el, I am safe..."  
  
"Anr'el ! Thank the Universe ! What happened ?"  
  
"I was in direct contact with the child through his dreams, attempting to   
  
strengthen his connection to the   
  
Commonality.   
  
But something happened.   
  
And the shock of it made me break contact with the Commonality, purely by   
  
accident I assure you."  
  
"It is good to have you back. The Child ?"  
  
"Alive, but not much more can be said right now. But thanks to our brief   
  
encounter in the dreamworld, I now know   
  
more about him."  
  
She shared what little she knew with Ca'el, knowing that soon everyone would   
  
know what she knew about the   
  
Child: His name and his approximately looks.  
  
Anr'el came out of the link again, letting a relieved sigh escape as she felt   
  
the Commonality once again seep away   
  
the pain of the Child.  
  
There was so much of it, it was hard to carry on her own.  
  
She opened her eyes.  
  
"Tam'el, Mur'el, get back to your search. We now know, that this child's name is   
  
Li'am" She struggled a bit with   
  
the foreign name "And that he has the appearance of a grown man. I will take   
  
care of this." she waved a hand at   
  
the 3 humans.  
  
With that she turned to follow Augur and the rest of them into the bowls of the   
  
church.  
  
------  
  
The Airducts  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
------  
  
OK, he was lost.   
  
No doubt about it.   
  
And he was almost blind as a bat without his glasses, which were now a   
  
phsycadelic sculpture of metal and glass   
  
on the floor of his former "home".  
  
The power of that electrical surge had been a teeny little bit stronger than he   
  
expected.   
  
In fact a whole damned lot stronger.   
  
But he survived.   
  
And now he need to get help from somewhere.  
  
The Colonel and the others, not to mention Liam, depended on it.  
  
Now all he had to do was to avoid getting caught.  
  
Sighing, Bettis started to crawl on his hands and feet while idly wondering   
  
exactly how many miles of airducts this   
  
place had.  
  
------  
  
The Interrogation Room  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
------  
  
Liam, handcuffed to a pipe over his head and barely touching the floor with his   
  
feet, could only watch helplessly as   
  
the Colonel was strapped to the very same table on which he had had his own   
  
little "conversations" with the Man.   
  
He got a sickening feeling in his gut as he guessed at what was to come now.  
  
And his fears were confirmed as the Man turned to him and said;  
  
"You know, what we want. Give it to us or this little brainwashed soldierboy of   
  
yours gets to feel a lot of pain."  
  
"Don't say any..." That was as far as Zeke got before a viscous blow to his head   
  
left him seeing stars.  
  
He knew, and so did Liam if he stopped to think about it, that even if they got   
  
what they wanted, this piece of   
  
human trash enjoyed his work to much to leave it at that.  
  
Liam was getting desperate.  
  
There had to be a way out of this !  
  
"I can't tell you about Kimeran technology ! I no longer have those memories !   
  
I'm human now !" Liam's frantic   
  
voice would, to a normal person, have left no doubt about his sincerity.   
  
This was what he truly believed.  
  
But the Man knew better.  
  
"Oh ? Human are you ? Then how do you explain this ?"  
  
The Man called up the results of the bloodwork they had done on Liam when he was   
  
arrested.  
  
Liam's eyes went wide with shock.  
  
On the screen of the global, a third strand of DNA, glowing almost like Taelon   
  
coreenergy, was clearly visible.   
  
------  
  
The Lair  
  
Beneath Saint Michael's  
  
------  
  
She had been here, with these humans, a couple of hours.  
  
They were waiting for someone called Sandoval, apparently the last surviving   
  
human parent of the Child.  
  
While they were waiting, the one called Augur had shown her all the information   
  
they had on the Little One, from   
  
his birth to his "death".  
  
She had dutifully shared all the information, she found necessary, with the   
  
Commonality.  
  
And she was developing a splitting headache.  
  
How these people could stare at these...computerscreens ?...for a prolonged   
  
length of time, when they were   
  
obviously dangerous to one's mental capacity was beyond her.  
  
But then again, this WAS humans she was dealing with here.  
  
A strange species indeed.  
  
On one side, they seemed to celebrate all the right ideas like equality,   
  
brotherhood and freedom for all (all one had   
  
to do was to read their so-called human rights bill), but on the other side,   
  
when they didn't understand something,   
  
they seemed to forget these very principles.  
  
Just take a look at how easily they had turned on Liam.  
  
But also their history before the Taelons had shown this weird doubleedgedness   
  
in the human character.  
  
The world BC had been marred with wars, religious fights and racism just because   
  
of skincolor.  
  
A dangerous species.  
  
An immature species.  
  
She hadn't shared all of the information she had found with the Commonality   
  
though.  
  
She was afraid, that when it came to meting out the just punishment for what   
  
they had done to Liam, the complete   
  
facts of what they had done, not only to him, but also to the members of their   
  
own species, would cloud the   
  
collective minds of the Commonality.   
  
And her resolve to blast the Earth away was slowly deteriorating, letting a more   
  
sombre state of mind come to the   
  
fore.  
  
The humans reminded her of children in some ways.  
  
Children, who had been left with out grown-ups for a very long time.  
  
But the Kimeran laws were clear.  
  
Ever since the Taelon-Kimera wars, and more pointedly the experiments the   
  
Taelons had run on the Kimeran   
  
children they had caught, there was only one possible punishment for harming a   
  
Child like this:   
  
Total Annihilation.  
  
The Kimera would not tolerate something like that to happen again.  
  
But with the humans behaving so much like children, wouldn't the Kimera, by   
  
following this course of action, also   
  
condemn themselves ?  
  
Her headache was getting worse by the second.  
  
Philosophy, she hated it.  
  
It was like running in circles, trying to figure it out.  
  
But at least there had been no more pain added to the child.  
  
But she could feel something else through the link.  
  
Despair.  
  
Despair, hopelessness and an acute sense of dread.  
  
What ever was happening, it couldn't be good.  
  
She tried projecting encouragement through the link, but whatever was happening   
  
was causing the Child to sink so   
  
deep into himself, that she couldn't quit reach him even on this basic level.  
  
She frowned.  
  
If he could only fall asleep again.  
  
Her thought were broken when a loud "BEEEP" from the computer almost made her   
  
jump out of her borrowed   
  
skin.  
  
Augur came over right away, having studied this Anr'el character secretly from a   
  
the couch, as he and Juliana had   
  
told Street the story of William Boone's death and the full story on Liam's   
  
heritage (of cause with the scouts   
  
honour oath that she wouldn't tell Sandoval about his part in it until Liam was   
  
ready for it).   
  
This one was weird, having said almost nothing, only soaking up knowledge like a   
  
sponge, not only on Liam, but   
  
also on a multitude of other things when she had figured out how to look up   
  
information on the computer.  
  
But then again, she WAS an Alien and Augur guessed it was her prerogative to be   
  
weird.  
  
And her reading speed made even Boone and the other implants look like   
  
tortoises.  
  
"Ah, the frequency search is finished."  
  
The others quickly stood up and went over to join him.  
  
"Frequency search ?" Anr'el spoke up, for the first time in hours. Her voice was   
  
hoarse due to the lack of use.  
  
"Yeah, I'm trying to locate Liam on his Commonality frequency. Holy...." He   
  
stared in awe at the results.  
  
The screen flared alive with green points of Commonality frequencies.  
  
"There must be THOUSANDS !"  
  
Street was baffled.  
  
Not even when the Taelons population on the planet had been at it's peak, had   
  
there been this many aliens on the   
  
planet.   
  
"Not quite, but close enough." Anr'el replied, a bit amused.  
  
"What you see, is the signatures of the Kimera currently planetside. There are   
  
many more on the ships."  
  
Juliana felt her jaw slack, but managed to stop it before it actually fell open.  
  
"I though the Kimera was all but extinct...Liam and Hag'el thought that they   
  
were dead completely...Then you guys   
  
show up and I thought, well maybe a couple of hundreds...But thousands ?"   
  
Juliana had a little bit of a hard time   
  
comprehending this.  
  
"You, the Taelons and even our old allies, the Jaridians, only knew what we   
  
wanted you to know.  
  
The war with the Taelons was many millennia ago and we needed time to grow   
  
strong again. We are actually   
  
billions now.   
  
More accurately: 3 fully inhabited worlds and 2 still being...eh..terraformed I   
  
believe the correct phrase is.  
  
But this, one of our Children being hurt, changes everything.  
  
The Kimera will not tolerate this kind of atrocity !  
  
And there will be a punishment."   
  
Her final statement left an ominous silence.  
  
Whatever the Kimera had in mind, it didn't sound good.  
  
"How long have you known about Liam ?" Sandoval asked, his voice breaking the   
  
tense silence.   
  
No one had noticed the lift opening.  
  
"Only for a few days. He screamed and we heard." she turned back to Augur "We   
  
have a weak link with him. Very   
  
weak, I might add. I doubt that you will be able to find him using your   
  
frequency search, when we have not been   
  
able to localise him ourselves.   
  
But you are welcome to try."  
  
She turned back to Sandoval, not only because she sensed, that he had more on   
  
his mind, but also to study this   
  
man, that Hag'el had chosen as his human host a little bit closer.  
  
"What will you do, when you find him ?" Sandoval had to ask.   
  
He needed to know.   
  
This was about his son.  
  
"We will take him back to Kimera Prime. He has already been left on this planet   
  
far to long all by himself. And   
  
look what have happened to him !" Anr'el was getting angry again as she thought   
  
about the things which had been,   
  
and was being, done to this precious Child.  
  
"But before going back there, we will meet out a punishment for this planet."  
  
"You said, you have a weak link with him. Is he alive ?"Juliana let her worry   
  
shine through.  
  
Anr'el sighed.   
  
What was it about this planet, which had her shaking with anger one second and   
  
her being totally tired the next ?  
  
"Yes. Barely. But he's hurt. Badly. And he is giving up."   
  
Anr'el studied Sandoval's reaction to this news out of the corner of her eye.  
  
There was signs of distress, both in his eyes and in the way his body tensed up.   
  
But his face showed nothing.  
  
He spoke up.  
  
"Then we better find him fast."  
  
Inwardly he thought: "Don't give up. We WILL find you, son." 


	4. 4

------  
  
The Airducts  
  
Beneath the Pentagon.  
  
------  
  
Bettis was getting tired of this.  
  
One should think, that with all his knowledge and ODK training, he could find   
  
one measly little exit.  
  
Just a fireexit or window or something.  
  
But so far the only exits he had been able to locate, was the ID-portals on the   
  
topfloor.   
  
And they were heavily guarded.  
  
To heavily for his taste.   
  
No, what he really needed was either a terminal or a Global.  
  
With one of those, he could access the computer network or at least get a   
  
message out of here.  
  
Yeah, a Global !  
  
That would be it !  
  
"Small, handy and easily concealed." he quoted in a whisper from a DI   
  
commercial, starting to crawl on, looking   
  
for a person "willing" to lend him the item  
  
-------  
  
Liam's Cell  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
-------  
  
He couldn't believe it.   
  
She had lied.  
  
Juliana Belman, one of the few people in his life who HADN'T betrayed him at   
  
some point or the other, had lied to   
  
him.  
  
She hadn't told him, that his cursed Kimeran heritage was back.  
  
But the look of glee in the Mans eyes had been unmistakable.   
  
For once, he had told the truth.  
  
Liam only remembered the rest of the previous hours in a haze.  
  
Remembered begging his nemesis to stop tormenting the Colonel, remembered having   
  
to watch as each "wrong"   
  
answer he gave only caused one of his few remaining friends even greater pain.  
  
But he had answered as truthfully as he could: That he didn't know how the   
  
Kimeran technology was build, what   
  
made a Kimeran spaceship tick or how it was armoured.  
  
He didn't know the answer to those things.  
  
In the end, the Man had ordered them back to their cells, Colonel Kincaid being   
  
thrown into the one opposite   
  
Liam's.  
  
He had done so, not out of mercy but because Zeke's body couldn't take much more   
  
damage right now.  
  
It was the "right now" part, which scared Liam.  
  
That, and the fact that Juliana had lied to him.  
  
Because if he couldn't trust the woman who, along with Lily, came the closest   
  
thing of being a real mother to him,   
  
then who could he trust ?  
  
No one.  
  
Liam turned over on his side, curling up in a foetal position with his nails   
  
digging into his palms almost to the   
  
point of breaking the skin, and fell into a fitful sleep.  
  
Zeke was watching as the Kid curled up under his skimpy blanket.  
  
He was worried.  
  
He had watched as the Bastard had presented the truth to Liam, had watched as   
  
the uncontrollable horror and hurt   
  
filled his eyes as the kid had realised, that the Man had told him the truth.  
  
Zeke knew, that whatever this meant to Liam, that little revelation had done   
  
more damage to his mental state than   
  
anything these a**holes could have done to him otherwise.  
  
Liam had finally broken over this little piece of news.  
  
Had given them everything they wanted.  
  
And they hadn't believed him.  
  
Zeke allowed an expression of pain to flicker over his face as he adjusted his   
  
position on the bunk.  
  
Whomever this guy was, he was efficient.  
  
Painfully so.  
  
Zeke had been tortured before, the scar on his face came with a little greeting   
  
from the SI-wars and a stay in an   
  
enemy prison camp.  
  
Commander Boone had gotten him and the rest of the team out of that one.   
  
Against orders, mind you.  
  
He wondered who was gonna get them out of this one.  
  
His attention was pulled back to Liam's cell as the kid started to whimper in   
  
his sleep, a violent shiver going   
  
through his body.  
  
Poor kid.  
  
He was going to need a LOT of help after this was over.  
  
If they survived.  
  
One crucial thing was in their favour though: they hadn't caught Bettis yet.  
  
And as long as he was on the loose, there was always the chance of the cavalry   
  
gatecrashing this little party.  
  
-------  
  
The Mans office  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
-------  
  
Finally things was going as they were supposed to.  
  
The subject was finally starting to talk, even if it was all lies.  
  
He allowed himself a small smile.  
  
He would get the truth eventually.  
  
"President Urich is here." The secretary's voice over the intercom broke his   
  
little moment of victory.  
  
He really had to talk to her about interrupting him when he didn't WANT to be   
  
interrupted.  
  
"Show him in."  
  
"I am already in, thank you." Urich said, opening the door with a big, fake   
  
smile plastered all over his face.   
  
The Man greeted him with an equally fake smile on his part.   
  
Then rose and stretched out his hand in greeting.  
  
"Mr. President, so good to see you again. How's the family ?"  
  
This man WAS supposed to be his superior.  
  
His only superior.   
  
"Fine, thank you. You should come visit us more often. So, how are the special   
  
project going ?" Urich didn't like   
  
the Man, but he was needed in this case.   
  
Afterwards he could always dispose of him.  
  
He was the President of the United States of America, the most powerful man in   
  
the world and he could do   
  
whatever he wanted.  
  
And he did.  
  
"Things are back on schedule. The Subject have started to talk, although It's   
  
telling us nothing but lies. But now,   
  
it's only a matter of time." The Man showed of most of his teeth in another   
  
smile, this time real enough.   
  
Urich eased back in a big, padded chair in front of the desk.  
  
"Fine. The public need an enemy.   
  
I have picked a small country in the middle east this time.   
  
And this new technology, perhaps spiced with a couple of medical inventions,   
  
could be just the thing.   
  
After all, this is a reelection year.  
  
And there are nothing like a quick, little war to boost votes.  
  
Afterwards, we can always pretend, that the Taelons are coming back.   
  
That should keep the public attention occupied for at least a decade before the   
  
fools figure out they have been had."   
  
Urich laughed.   
  
He could allow himself to share some of his plans.   
  
Yes, disposing of this psychopath afterwards would be a solution.  
  
He was far to dangerous.  
  
"Just give them something to fear, and they follow you like lambs to the   
  
slaughter if you only promise to keep them   
  
safe from the big, bad wolf." ù  
  
"Yes. I must commend you on the way you managed to turn them on the Subject like   
  
that. A real piece of art." The   
  
Man decided to boost this bureaucrats ego a little bit. Give him just enough   
  
rope to hang himself on.  
  
"That was nothing, just a couple of half-truths and rumours and they believe   
  
you. The public wants to be lied to.   
  
Takes their little minds of of their little, ordinary lives." Urich said,   
  
wallowing in self-satisfaction, while the Man   
  
was trying hard NOT to show his disgust.  
  
Ever since the Subjects true heritage had gone public, his fingers had itched to   
  
get his hands on him.  
  
He was a danger to the public.  
  
So was Urich.  
  
But he guessed, that sometimes, in order to get what you want, you have to   
  
overlook a couple of things with your   
  
partners.  
  
And at least Urich was human.  
  
------  
  
The Airducts  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
------  
  
Bettis was getting sick to his stomach.  
  
The conversation he had just heard through the airvent, and recorded on his   
  
newly acquired global, was not to be   
  
misunderstood.  
  
Urich had ordered Liam caught and tortured just to stay in office.   
  
And he was also planning on declaring war on some small, unfortunate country   
  
somewhere for the same reason.  
  
He, the Colonel and the rest of the ODK team had just happened to get in the   
  
way.  
  
But he guessed, that when Urich was cold-blooded enough to order millions of   
  
innocent people dead just to get   
  
reelected, then the torture and death of an ODK team, not to mention the man who   
  
saved the world, was pebbles.  
  
Bettis slowly retreated to one of the bigger mainvents, making as little noise   
  
as possible.   
  
Then he started to work on modifying the Global, so that it would be   
  
untraceable.   
  
He needed to use it to hack into a terminal, but couldn't afford to get caught.  
  
He hoped this would work.  
  
------  
  
The Lair  
  
Beneath Saint Michael's Church  
  
------  
  
Sandoval approached Anr'el.   
  
She and Augur was working on filtering out the signals from the planetside   
  
Kimera, based on a system, where   
  
every Kimera would shortly "log out" of the Commonality, the blink on the screen   
  
being filtered out.  
  
The idea was, that the last two on screen would be Anr'el and Liam.  
  
Anr'el because she couldn't log out, being the only connection to Liam they had,   
  
and Liam, because he was   
  
connected to Anr'el.  
  
He padded her softly on the shoulder.  
  
"I need to talk to you. It's about Liam."  
  
Anr'el send him a speculative glance.  
  
"What do you wish to discuss ?" She turned to him, while Augur tried hard not to   
  
show his nervousness.  
  
They hadn't told Anr'el that Sandoval knew nothing about his parentage.   
  
They simply hadn't gotten around to it.   
  
Big mistake, he guessed.   
  
"Let's start with why my son..."  
  
At this both Augur and Dr. Belman gasped, staring at him like he had grown a   
  
second AND third head.   
  
When had he figured it out ?   
  
"yes, I know he's my son. I am not completely stupid, Augur, so stop looking   
  
like that..." Sandoval send them both   
  
a dirty look.   
  
No doubt, that this would be discussed later.   
  
Then, with out missing a beat, he continued   
  
"...why he looks to be around my age and then continue to a more detailed   
  
analysis about what you know of his   
  
current state of health. Not to mention what you intend to do with him when you   
  
and he returns to Kimera Prime.   
  
After that we can discuss whether or not I will allow that little trip at all."  
  
Anr'el was more than a bit amused.   
  
Whatever the subtext was on this, it was clear, that Sandoval was not supposed   
  
to know about his fatherhood.   
  
But he did and now he was doing the true parentthing and went super-mother-hen   
  
on his son.  
  
"Well, then." her voice clearly conveighing her amusement "Liam's rapid growth   
  
was probably the result of him   
  
feeling threatened." She held up a hand to stop Dr Belman and Augur from   
  
interrupting. "It's a Kimera survival   
  
mechanism.   
  
And from what I understand, the situation, in which he was born, was, to a   
  
child, very frightening indeed:  
  
His father was being hunted merciless and finally killed, he was surrounded by   
  
people, who was discussing   
  
whether or not to kill his mother or just brainwash her, which, by the way, was   
  
totally unnecessary, since Hag'el   
  
would probably have made sure that her CVI no longer had what you call an MI,   
  
but let's not discuss that now, so   
  
his subconciousness ordered his body to mature in order to be able to defend   
  
itself. His mind would also develop   
  
the necessary survival skills based on his inherited memories.   
  
It's a rare occurrence since the Taelon-Kimera war, but not unheard of.   
  
As for his current state of health, I cannot tell you more than I already have:   
  
He's in a considerable amount of pain,   
  
both mental and physically, probably as the result of torture.   
  
As for him returning to Kimera Prime, first of all, you really don't have a   
  
choice in that matter, he WILL return   
  
with us; He is one of our Children and he needs us.   
  
No harm will fall on him, that much I can promise you. He will be allowed to   
  
develop as he was meant to, allowed   
  
to find his own way in the world and not the way determined by a bunch of   
  
strangers, who doesn't understand the   
  
potential he carries within him.  
  
To put it simple: We will allow him to be the child he is and to grow up in his   
  
own speed."  
  
She drew a deep breath.  
  
"That is something you have all forgotten isn't it: That you are dealing with a   
  
child.   
  
You only see what your eyes tells you and not what your mind tells you.   
  
And you almost broke a small child because of it. How many times have the   
  
Resistance "she turned to Augur and   
  
Dr. Belman "send Liam out on dangerous missions, eventhough there were plenty of   
  
other agents to send ?"   
  
Both of them remembered several such occasions.   
  
She was right.   
  
They HAD, conveniently, forgotten that Liam was only a child.   
  
They only remembered it, when he did something totally out of character for an   
  
adult.  
  
She wasn't finished though.  
  
"Don't worry about it. It's in the past and right now we have bigger problems   
  
than your inability to remember the   
  
obvious." She smiled apologetic to them. She hadn't meant to be this lecturing   
  
about it.   
  
Then something occurred to her.   
  
She closed her eyes for a second, feeling the sensations emanating from her   
  
bond.  
  
Yes, she was right.   
  
"He's asleep." She opened her eyes. "I will attempt to reinforce the link I have   
  
with him. Please do not disturb me."   
  
She closed her eyes again, seeking the dreamworld of the Child.  
  
The humans could only wait in nervous anticipation.  
  
------  
  
Liam's Cell  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
------  
  
Liam was dreaming.   
  
And this time it WAS a nightmare.  
  
A psychedelic flow of faces and situations, where he had been betrayed.  
  
Da'an, Sandoval, Augur, Dr Belman and even Hag'el telling him that he was   
  
entirely human now and laughing at   
  
him behind his back.   
  
The Mans mocking laughter on top of it all, a fitting soundtrack to the   
  
questions of dead resistancefighters   
  
screaming at him, asking him "Why me ? I had a family !".   
  
Even his mother was in here, cursing the day he had been born.  
  
"If it weren't for you, you little freak, I would still be alive !"  
  
And she was right.   
  
If he hadn't been born, Dr Park wouldn't have had to mess with his mothers CVI   
  
and it wouldn't have burned out   
  
prematurely.  
  
And she wouldn't have died in that Swiss mountain cave.  
  
The demons surrounding him dug even further into his tortured mind, digging up   
  
other equally painful memories   
  
and twisting them even further after their own plans.  
  
But something else blended in now, a soothing voice, crooning at him in a   
  
foreign language, slowly pulling him   
  
out of the dark void, into which he had damned himself, and onto the now   
  
familiar mountain range of the place he   
  
had been told was Kimera Prime.  
  
"shhh, Little One, everything is going to be OK."   
  
He found himself being cradled in the arms of the Kimeran woman Anr'el, lying on   
  
the ground, sobbing while his   
  
hot tears fell against her chest, holding him as she were, on her knees next to   
  
him.   
  
He tried to compose himself.   
  
This wasn't the adult thing to do.  
  
"No, it's not. But you are not an adult yet, Little One. And it's ok to show   
  
your pain, even if you were." Again she   
  
was reading his mind.  
  
He forced a little, weak smile.  
  
"You have to stop doing that, you know. People are going to start to talk."  
  
She smiled, not entirely sure on the joke.  
  
"Then let them."  
  
She let him go as he sat up, arms around his knees and head on them. He stared   
  
of into the distance.  
  
"Thanks for getting me out of there."  
  
"My pleasure. And your own work. I could only show you the way, you had to take   
  
it on your own."  
  
"You are starting to sound kind of like Yoda."   
  
He turned his head to look at her.  
  
Now, that was a name she had heard before.  
  
"Now, do I look like a little, green man to you ? I am hurt !" She said with a   
  
look of mock anger on her face,   
  
slapping his shoulder affectionately.  
  
She was awarded with a genuine laugh.  
  
Anr'els own smile grew.  
  
This was much better than the dark mood he had been in, when she first entered   
  
the bond.  
  
"I'm not totally convinced, that I'm not imagining this, but if I have to go   
  
mad, it's nice to know, that my   
  
hallucinations have a sense of humour."   
  
This time they both laughed.  
  
They sat for a while in compagnionable silence, just admiring the view.  
  
"Why are you so sad ?" She finally asked, wondering what could have happened to   
  
throw Liam into the dark void   
  
she had found him in.   
  
It had been quit a battle to get through to him.  
  
He sighed and watched as heavy, rainfilled clouds started to gather in the   
  
distance.  
  
"She lied to me. She told me that I was human. And I trusted her."  
  
"Who lied?"  
  
"Dr Belman."   
  
Anr'el allowed a frown to appear on her face. Dr Belman had lied to this one ?   
  
She would have to have a serious   
  
conversation with her.  
  
"Why did she tell you that you were human ? And why do it hurt you so much that   
  
you are not ?"  
  
He turned his head to watch her.  
  
There was no deceit in her face.   
  
He could tell her.  
  
And she was probably a figment of his own imagination anyway.  
  
"It was shortly before the Taelons left. My Shaqarava returned just in the nick   
  
of time to save my human father. I   
  
asked her to take some samples, but according to her, there was nothing out of   
  
the ordinary. She lied. The Man   
  
told me the truth, showed me the readings on the tests they ran on me, when they   
  
brought me in. She lied to me,   
  
Anr'el."  
  
The clouds were getting closer, thunder starting to rumble.  
  
Anr'el got worried.   
  
This place reacted to emotions and this was NOT looking good.  
  
She moved over next to him and embraced him, soothingly rubbing circles on his   
  
back.  
  
"It's OK, nothing can hurt you in here. We don't have to talk about this, if you   
  
don't want to."  
  
Liam felt himself calm down by the emotions emanating from the Kimera.  
  
He watched as the clouds started to move away again, although they didn't   
  
disappear completely.  
  
Strange.  
  
After a few minutes of watching these weird behaving clouds and enjoying the   
  
closeness with Anr'el, he finally   
  
gathered up the courage to continue.  
  
"I guess, that I never really expected her to lie to me. Everyone else, yes, but   
  
not her. She was my adopted "mother"   
  
for crying out loud ! She wasn't supposed to lie to me !"   
  
He made an effort stop his rampant emotions.   
  
He needed to get his control back.  
  
"As for why it hurts not to be human. That one is not so hard. I'm the last of   
  
my species. I'm alone in the middle of   
  
a sea of humans. They all hate me. I just want to fit in."   
  
Crystalline tears started to drip again.  
  
"Why couldn't I just have been born human ?"   
  
He closed his eyes, allowing Anr'el to gather him even closer to her chest,   
  
giving him the only comfort she knew   
  
how to.  
  
Her heart was breaking.  
  
"Oh, Hag'el, what have you done..." She thought to herself, desperately wishing,   
  
that there was a way to go back in   
  
time and help this child avoid all that pain, he had experienced.   
  
But she couldn't.  
  
So she did the next best thing.  
  
She took his hand and showed him the Commonality.  
  
And in the real world, Colonel Liam Neville Kincaid gasped loudly, his eyes   
  
going wide with shock as Liam's   
  
entire body began to emanate an eerie green light.  
  
-------  
  
The Kimeran Commonality  
  
-------  
  
They all looked like stars at this distance.   
  
A sky filled with hundreds, thousands of greenglowing stars, connected with   
  
shining strands of energy, vibrant and   
  
alive.  
  
But the most incredible thing was the song.   
  
Soothing, caring and the most beautiful thing he had ever heard.  
  
Millions of voices, each blending in with it's own tone, its own intonation.  
  
Some beautiful, some a little bit more...well not so beautiful perhaps, but the   
  
result was the same.  
  
Absolutely stunning.  
  
He lacked the words.  
  
But somehow he knew, that this was not a dream, that this was reality.  
  
That he was no longer alone.  
  
And as he was gently pushed closer to the intricate patterns of the Commonality   
  
by the being at his side, all he   
  
could do was marvel at the sensations filling his mind.  
  
He was finally home.  
  
Maybe not in body, but in heart.  
  
He was accepted here, no strings attached except those he chose to create   
  
himself.  
  
A single strand of energy enveloped him, pulling him even closer to the rest and   
  
connecting him to those of his   
  
own kind, the Kimera.  
  
Adding him to the eternal new pattern of the Commonality.  
  
Not the stale, confined, rigid Commonality of the Taelons, but the living,   
  
breathing, ever-changing pattern of the   
  
Kimeran Commonality.  
  
There was no pain here, and he understood, that he could stay here as long as he   
  
wanted.  
  
Here he would be safe from pain until others had found his body and brought it   
  
to safety.  
  
That was the most incredible thing of it all:  
  
They wanted HIM.  
  
Wanted to find him.  
  
Not because of how they could use him, but because of who he was, Liam Hag'el-  
  
Sandoval-Beckett, a unique being   
  
of their blood, someone who needed to be protected and cared for.  
  
And for the second time that day, Liam broke down, bathed in the caring of the   
  
Kimera, scared that it would end.  
  
But it didn't.  
  
Instead the emotions, he received, increased in strength as the Kimera felt his   
  
distress, and soon dozens of string   
  
from others attached themselves to his glowing cocoon, flooding him with   
  
feelings of caring, worry about him and   
  
total acceptance.  
  
He let himself be absorbed by the sensations, halfway believing that they had   
  
mistaken him for someone else.   
  
But that slight note of selfdoubt was quickly quelled by an angry Anr'el.  
  
"Do not believe that ! We want YOU ! We have been looking for you ever since we   
  
realised you existed.  
  
You are one of us. And you will never be alone again ! That I, we ALL, promise."  
  
There was a murmur of reassurance from the rest of the Commonality, even the   
  
faint voices, that Liam realised   
  
was the Kimera back on Kimera Prime and the other planets inhabited by his   
  
people.  
  
His people.  
  
They didn't care, that he was a half-breed, a freak.  
  
He was one of them.  
  
Now and always.  
  
When the intense emotions from the others threatened to overwhelm him   
  
completely, Anr'el stepped in again and   
  
ordered the others to keep their distance.  
  
The sensations became less intense, but they didn't cease.   
  
There was a small moment of panic, as he realised, that Anr'el was going to   
  
leave the deep link with the   
  
Commonality.  
  
"Easy, Little One. I'm not going away completely. you can always contact me.   
  
Just call for me.  
  
And someone has to find your body.   
  
I would like you to meet someone." She motioned a nearby Kimera closer.  
  
"This is my second in command, Ca'el."  
  
"It is an honour to finally meet you, Li'am." Ca'el greeted Liam with a gesture,   
  
which left even the graceful   
  
gestures of the Taelons a million light-years behind.  
  
"Ca'el will stay here with you, while I go back to the world of matter. He will   
  
take care of you. I trust him   
  
completely." Anr'el stated, trying to easen the distrust she felt in Liam.   
  
The Child had been through so much in his short lifespan.  
  
Liam felt the emotions radiating of this strange Kimera, feeling no treason in   
  
him.  
  
He slowly disentangled himself from the "deathgrip" he had unconsciously held on   
  
Anr'els mental signature.  
  
"Be back soon ?" he whispered mentally, not completely secure about this strange   
  
place yet.  
  
"I promise, Little One."  
  
Privately, she send an message directly to Ca'el.  
  
"Make sure, they don't overwhelm him, but keep him busy. Maybe you could   
  
introduce him to some of the younger   
  
Kimera in the fleet, someone closer to his own age."  
  
"I will. Be safe and return soon with good news."  
  
"I intend to."  
  
With a final mental greeting to Liam, Anr'el exited the deep link, but without   
  
severing the connection completely.  
  
She wanted to keep tabs on Liam, just to be on the safe side.  
  
One just never knew.  
  
------  
  
The Mans Office  
  
Beneath the Pentagon.  
  
------  
  
"SIR ! COME QUICKLY ! SOMETHING IS HAPPENING IN SL27!"  
  
The panicked voice of one of his subordinates broke up the little tˆte-…-tˆte he   
  
was having with the President.  
  
He was somewhat relieved.  
  
One could only serve so much flatter without getting caught in it.  
  
"Calm down, man. Is it Bettis ?"   
  
"No !It's..It's...Something is happening to the Subject. It's glowing !" The   
  
labcoated assistant gasped out   
  
breathlessly, while leaning heavily on the doorframe for support.   
  
He had been running all 3 levels up the stairs.  
  
Urich and the Man exchanged a fast glance before heading out the door, towards   
  
the level, which held Liam's cell.  
  
-------  
  
Zeke's Cell  
  
Beneath the Pentagon.  
  
-------  
  
When Liam's body had begun to glow, Zeke had instantly forgotten all about his   
  
aching body, first shocked, but   
  
then intrigued to no ends about the strange phenomenon.  
  
He had careful gotten up, moving as close to the virtual glass barrier as he   
  
could, while supporting himself to the   
  
wall of the cell.  
  
He studied the kid more closely.  
  
The look on Liam's face was serene and more peaceful than he had ever seen it   
  
before.  
  
A strange pattern of greenish light moved almost like a second heartbeat under   
  
his skin towards the center of his   
  
palms, which was glowing like small stars.  
  
It was beautiful.   
  
What was even more amassing was the fact, that the cuts and abrasions, which   
  
Liam had suffered seemed to heal   
  
themselves rapidly, the strange light in the kids body sealing every one of them   
  
shut, leaving not even scars.  
  
Zeke's enthralment of the happenings in Liam's cell was brutally broken as a   
  
security detail stormed down the   
  
hallway towards their cells, closely followed by the Bastard and, of all people,   
  
President Hubble.  
  
Zeke thought he had recognised Hubbles voice earlier, before the escapeattempt,   
  
but he hadn't been sure.  
  
Not until now.  
  
That bastard was gonna pay as well.  
  
Zeke would make sure of it.   
  
The Man deactivated the barrier in Liam's cell.  
  
"What is this ?" Hubble was dumbfounded.   
  
Not in all the time, he had known Liam, had he seen him do anything like this.  
  
"I have no idea. But I intend to find out." He reached out his hand to violently   
  
shake the Subject awake.   
  
And found himself slammed up against the wall as a powerful energysurge emanated   
  
from Liam's almost   
  
unconscious body.  
  
Liam's body defended itself with all it had now, when there was no conscious   
  
mind to hamper it's inherited   
  
survival mechanisms.  
  
The Man was left seeing stars.  
  
And for once in his life he was scared.  
  
Really, truly scared.  
  
What on Earth was this ?  
  
Nothing had prepared him for this, when he was reading the reports.  
  
He wisely decided to do a strategic fallback and reassess his plans for dealing   
  
with this freak.  
  
A mocking laughter from the other side of the cell lane brought him back to   
  
reality.  
  
"Did you really think, it would be THAT easy ?" Zeke continued to laugh.   
  
He laughed, because somewhere he knew, that Liam had reached a place where these   
  
vultures could no longer   
  
reach him.  
  
"You can no longer hurt him, you bastard."  
  
The Man was tempted to have the Colonel beat into a bloody pulp, to hear him   
  
screaming for mercy.   
  
But he knew, that it could compromise any chance he had of making the Alien talk   
  
if he did.  
  
He looked at the Freak again.  
  
He would bring him back to this world, would break and destroy whatever   
  
sanctuary he had found in his own mind   
  
and then both of these...Subjects would suffer greatly when that happened.  
  
"It is only a matter of time, my dear Colonel, it is only a matter of time..."  
  
The Man laughed.  
  
And even Urich cringed.  
  
------  
  
The Lair  
  
Beneath Saint Michael's Church.  
  
------  
  
Anr'el returned to the world slowly, not really wanting to go there and leave   
  
the Child alone in his new   
  
surroundings, but knew that she had to in order to finish her tasks.  
  
She found 4 human set of eyes looking at her anxiously, not really sure what to   
  
expect, but hoping the best.  
  
She sought out a specific pair of dark brown, female ones.  
  
"You lied to him." Her voice carried more than a little hint of accusation.  
  
"He trusted you, and you lied to him."  
  
Juliana didn't try to deny the accusation.  
  
"Yes. He wanted so to fit in. And I truly believed, that his heritage would go   
  
into dormancy again, once the stress   
  
of the fight against the Taelons had seized." She sighed. "I love that child as   
  
if he was my own. But I couldn't stand   
  
to see him hurt, so I lied."  
  
"You did. And because of it, those bastards, who holds him, had a terrible   
  
weapon against him. Trust is about   
  
always being told the truth, even if it hurts."  
  
Juliana had the good grace to look ashamed and Anr'el, although disapproving,   
  
could follow her reasoning.   
  
No one could have known about the recent events back then.  
  
She allowed her gaze wander over the collected "family".  
  
One by one she assessed them, judging them by what she now knew from the Child   
  
himself.  
  
One had betrayed his trust to save him from the wrath of an assassin.   
  
One had lied to him to save him from himself.  
  
And his own father had tortured him.  
  
That one hurt.  
  
Sandoval meet her gaze evenly, sensing what was going through her mind.  
  
"I didn't know any better."  
  
"Did it give you the right ?"  
  
He contemplated it for a second.  
  
At the time it had hurt him more than he had ever told anyone, even his   
  
superiors in the ODK.   
  
They had convinced him of the necessity in it to throw Zo'or of his trail.  
  
But it had hurt and the only thing in his defence had been the fact, that he had   
  
only applied as much pain as   
  
necessary to uphold the illusion of him being a loyal implant.  
  
But did it warrant his actions ?  
  
Couldn't the same outcome have been made with other actions ?  
  
"No." was all he could say.   
  
Nothing warranted that kind of behaviour.   
  
Not orders, not survival, nothing.  
  
"Then you have learned from it." Anr'el levelled her gaze on the youngest member   
  
of the team, letting Sandoval of   
  
the hook for the moment.   
  
The Implant was at least regretting his actions.  
  
Anything else was for later.   
  
Street fidgeted nervously.  
  
Surely, she had done nothing ?  
  
And she hadn't.   
  
There was no judgement from Anr'el on her, just a thoughtful look before she   
  
returned to the matters of hand.  
  
"Liam is resting safely within the Commonality. He is at peace for the moment,   
  
but we need to find him as quickly   
  
as possible.  
  
There is a chance, that the people, who holds him will try to hurt his body   
  
while he is there.  
  
Filtering out the frequencies of my kind takes to long. We need to move faster."  
  
In the same instant, the computer beeped loudly.  
  
Bettis appeared on the screen.  
  
"Hi Augur, guess who ? And I could really need your help.  
  
This is a pre-recorded message, send from the inner of a bunker somewhere....."  
  
------  
  
The Airducts.  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
------  
  
Bettis moved away from the spot, where he had dropped the modified Global   
  
quickly.   
  
No one could know, when Augur, or even IF he, would arrive with the cavalry.  
  
And he couldn't afford to get caught just yet.  
  
The information he send out was accompanied by a beacon signal in an old   
  
resistance frequency.  
  
Augur, but not to many others, would know about it.  
  
But there was always the chance of it actually getting traced, so he stayed on   
  
the move.  
  
The blueprints he had send in the package had been easily obtained, but had been   
  
discouraging.  
  
There was no way out.  
  
The only exit was the portals since the entire complex was apparently   
  
underground.  
  
He hoped for the best.  
  
Bettis continued to crawl.  
  
------  
  
The Lair  
  
Beneath Saint Michael's Church  
  
------  
  
The Lair was alive with activity.  
  
Or as much activity as 4 people and a Kimera could accomplish.  
  
Augur, Anr'el, Sandoval and Street was studying the plans of the Bunker, where   
  
Liam was being held, with   
  
microscopic accuracy, trying to find the weak points.  
  
And they were making preciously little progress.  
  
If she understood it correctly, the complex was 29 levels big, each level   
  
covering about 1 squaremile and connected   
  
with elevators and ID portals.  
  
The complex was old, build sometime in the 50'ties, as a nuclear fallout shelter   
  
for the government and had once   
  
had exits to the surface, but after the Taelons had arrived, the exits had been   
  
blocked with concrete and the ID-  
  
portals on the topfloor were now the only way in or out.  
  
Juliana could only sit and stare at them, hoping that they were making some sort   
  
of progress.  
  
Her speciality was healing, not planning a small war.  
  
Healing.  
  
What a joke.  
  
She could still remember the day, when Liam had come to here, after having   
  
rescued Sandoval.  
  
-------  
  
The Lair  
  
13 months before  
  
-------  
  
"Juliana ?" Liam's voice broke her study of Sandovals medical records.   
  
He had been badly hurt, when one of the other Implants had found out, that he   
  
was working for the ODK.  
  
That little piece of news still had her mind reeling.  
  
Who should have thought, that the ice-cold, murdering SOB was actually one of   
  
the good guys ?  
  
Zo'or certainly hadn't.  
  
And neither had she.  
  
He was supposed to have died that day, as an example of Taelon justice and the   
  
allmightyness of the Companion   
  
Protectors.  
  
But he hadn't died, thanks to Liam.  
  
Or rather thanks to Liam's suddenly re-emerged Shaqarava.  
  
Unfortunately the entire incident had taken place on live, national wide   
  
television, so now Liam was the most   
  
wanted person on the planet.  
  
It hadn't taken the Taelons that long to figure out his connection to Hag'el.  
  
And they had acted accordingly.  
  
She had a suspicion about him being there, though.  
  
"Do you have a couple of minutes ?" His face, normally so guarded, had a   
  
strange, vunerable look of pleading and   
  
dread on it.  
  
"Sure, always when it comes to you." She smiled.   
  
He was her favourite.   
  
Always had been, right from the day he took his first breath.  
  
With his next words, her suspicion was confirmed.  
  
"I..I need you to run some tests...I need to know, if my Kimeran heritage is   
  
back to stay or what...." His voice was   
  
hesitant.  
  
"Well, you do know how I love to put needles in people, so come on in."   
  
Liam winced, fear shining in his eyes.   
  
The lame joke had reminded him about, what the Taelons would do to him, if they   
  
ever got their hands on him.   
  
Juliana could have kicked herself.   
  
Hard.  
  
"Sorry." She motioned for him to take a seat.  
  
"It's ok. No harm done." Liam gave her a strained halfsmile.  
  
She ran the tests, surprised at the results.  
  
Not only was his 3rd DNA strand back in full force, but his energy readings was   
  
off the charts.  
  
He was stronger now than ever.  
  
His heritage had simply been dormant, for what reason she didn't know.  
  
Maybe some sort of Kimeran maturity phase ?  
  
She was about to ask him about it, when he spoke.  
  
"Is it gone ?"  
  
She could see an intense hope in his green-golden eyes at those words.  
  
And then she realised it.  
  
The truth.  
  
The truth behind the disappearing heritage, the truth behind those little   
  
meetings he had had with Hag'el in that   
  
psykokinetic dimension he had first been in during the "Sleepers" Incident and   
  
then later again with the Dark   
  
Matter and what had been dubbed the Ephany episode.  
  
It hadn't been Hag'el telling him, that his heritage was disappearing.  
  
It had been his own mind, his own wish for being human, which had used Hag'el as   
  
a go-between, giving Liam an   
  
excuse for no longer accessing those parts of him, which came from that side of   
  
his parentage.  
  
He had suppressed it, forced it to go away.  
  
He wanted to be fully human.  
  
So she lied.  
  
"Yes."  
  
His relief was almost overwhelming.  
  
He had hoped so much.  
  
And she had allowed him to hope.  
  
One little word.  
  
So much damage.  
  
------  
  
The Lair  
  
Now  
  
------  
  
Juliana sighed, then went over the medical supplies once more.  
  
Anr'el had told her, that there was torture involved, so she would probably have   
  
to run a couple of supply runs just   
  
to be on the safe side of the situation.  
  
She could take care of the physical side of it, but what about the psychological   
  
part ?  
  
Melissa Parks had been better for those sort of situations.  
  
But she was gone, and so was a lot of other good friends.  
  
She could only hope, that Liam would not join those ranks.  
  
Her attention was averted, when an outburst from the computer isle was heard.  
  
"This pointless." Anr'el was getting frustrated.  
  
What did it help, that they had finally located Liam, when they couldn't find a   
  
way in ?  
  
Or out for that matter.  
  
They needed to get someone in there...  
  
Someone those people wouldn't consider a risk...  
  
Someone like....  
  
She straightened up suddenly, ignoring the curious gazes of the others.  
  
An idea had popped into her head and was now crystallising into a risky, but   
  
possible, plan.  
  
She turned to the Dr.  
  
"Do you think, you could get your hands on a bloodsample from Liam ?"  
  
At Dr Belmans confused, but affirming nod, she continued.  
  
"I'm also gonna need a bloodsample from a female, preferably in the childbearing   
  
age."  
  
"That shouldn't be a problem."  
  
"Augur, is that portal" She pointed towards the temporary portal. "working ?"  
  
"Yes, of cause. What..."   
  
"Good, this is what we'll do...." 


	5. 5

------  
  
The Mans office  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
------  
  
Hubble Urich was yelling.   
  
And the Man was developing a headache.  
  
So far, any attempts to wake the Subject from his self-induced coma had been   
  
invain.  
  
The Man had left It in its cell, not willing to risk it making an escapeattempt   
  
from sickbay and not able to move   
  
him, even if he could.  
  
Each time anyone had gotten to close to the Subject, an energy surge had thrown   
  
them away like a discarded tissue.  
  
It was most frustrating.  
  
If only they had had a second Subject to run tests on, then maybe he could be   
  
able to figure out, what was going on.  
  
"Sir ?" For the first time in days, he was actually pleased to be disturbed.   
  
Anything to break the rant the President was on about his inability to comply to   
  
even the simplest of orders.  
  
He was more than tempted to kill the man right now.  
  
"Yes ?"  
  
"Research has found something, I think you should see. I'm patching it through   
  
to your computer now."  
  
The Man punched up the information and read it.  
  
Then reread it.  
  
This could be the break he was looking for.  
  
A cold smile, which chilled Urich to the very core, made it's way onto his face.  
  
Yes, this could be his big break indeed.  
  
Then he picked up his phone and started giving orders.  
  
------  
  
The Airducts.  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
------  
  
Bettis had been close to getting caught twice now, once being able to make a   
  
slip and the second he was able to kill   
  
the goonhead before the goonhead killed him.  
  
As a result, he was now equipped with not only a gun, but also a set of   
  
headphones, making it possible to tap into   
  
the intern communications of the place.  
  
Of cause that would end, when they found the dead guy and noticed the missing   
  
headset, but until then, it gave him   
  
an edge.   
  
One that he appreciated very much.  
  
Something was up.  
  
Something big.  
  
Maybe the cavalry was finally about to arrive ?  
  
In that case, he had to locate the prisoners ASAP.  
  
Cursing, and being thankful that he had not developed claustrophobia yet, he   
  
made his way through the tunnels   
  
again.  
  
------  
  
Zeke's Cell  
  
------  
  
Zeke had been watching a myriad of scientist come and go from Liam's cell, not   
  
one of them being able to figure   
  
out, what the hell was going on.  
  
He smiled contentedly.  
  
Liam was safe for the time being.  
  
He watched the kid again, as the flow of scientist made a break.  
  
In his sleep, he looked happy for once.  
  
Zeke couldn't remember when he had last seen that in the kid.  
  
Never, as far as he could tell.  
  
He couldn't help wondering, what the kid was dreaming about.  
  
------  
  
The Kimeran Commonality  
  
------  
  
Liam was laughing his head off.  
  
He knew, that these two Kimera was much older than him counting in years, but   
  
something about them made him   
  
feel amongst people his own age.  
  
His real age, that is.  
  
And their tale of how one of their team-mates, Kiri'el, had once ended up in   
  
rather sticky, quit literally, situation   
  
while being involved in a rite of friendship on a lowdeveloped planet, was   
  
simply hilarious.  
  
A short distance away, Ca'el was watching contentedly.  
  
The Child was enjoying himself greatly.  
  
It was a joy to watch.  
  
And Anr'el would be pleased.  
  
And when you spoke of the devil..  
  
He received a message from her.  
  
Worriedly he listened, then resend her orders to the people, who where needed.  
  
He hoped that this would work.  
  
-------  
  
Washington Portal Station  
  
-------  
  
A tall teenager was absentmindedly wandering through the crowd, more than once   
  
stepping on peoples toes, their   
  
angry yelps pulling her back to reality before her mind drifted off again.  
  
She was hugging herself, wrapping the long, much to large, leather trenchcoat   
  
close her slender body as if trying to   
  
keep hold of a memory.  
  
A long rug of unruly darkblond, slightly curled hair hid her features, which had   
  
a strangely haunting beauty to   
  
them, only allowing people, who came close enough to notice, a glimpse of sad   
  
green-golden eyes, which seemed   
  
to carry the sorrow of the world in them.  
  
All the sudden all hell broke loose when a detail of soldiers exploded out of   
  
ID-space in a nearby portal.  
  
At the same time, other soldiers burst in the different exits, blocking every   
  
escape route there was.  
  
The teenager looked desperately around, trying to find a way out and people   
  
around her started to panic, as they   
  
noticed the glowing, brilliant white light emanating from her hands.  
  
A vicious struggle took place, the teen almost making it away through one of the   
  
fireexits as a shot from a stungun   
  
had her downed.  
  
A tall, imposing man with a cold smile on his lips and equally cold eyes walk up   
  
to the dazed girl lying crumpled   
  
on the floor.  
  
"I do not know, how you have succeeded in remaining out of the DNA registers for   
  
this long. However, it was a   
  
mistake using the portal system." The Man said, a gleeful expression slowly   
  
making it to his face.  
  
The world was a wonderful place to him right now.  
  
"BASTARD ! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY FATHER ???!!!" She screamed, the   
  
desperate rage   
  
giving her the power to rise on wobbly legs.  
  
"Why, ms Palmer, such language for a young lady like you. Didn't your mother   
  
teach you better ?"   
  
The Man laughed at his own joke.   
  
"No, that's right your mother doesn't even know you exists, does she ? Your   
  
freak of a father saw to that." His voice   
  
sank to a menacing whisper. "Unless you wish your father to die a VERY painful   
  
death, I suggest you follow us   
  
peacefully."  
  
He smirked at the frightened expression in the girls eyes.  
  
The revelation, that the Freak had a daughter had been a blessing falling into   
  
his hands out of thin air.  
  
He had only found out about it due to the fact that the portal system had once   
  
been set up to alert him, if anyone   
  
with abnormal DNA turned up.  
  
The DNA registers did have their uses.  
  
And the government had long wanted to get their hands on some of the Taelon-  
  
Human hybrids, which they knew   
  
was out there.  
  
This was just a bonus.  
  
"Dad...Dad is dead...."The whisper came out low, almost inaudible, as if she was   
  
facing a great grief.  
  
"No, he's not. He's actually my guest. And so will you be, ms Palmer. Do not   
  
worry, we will not harm you. Much."  
  
His cold, cruel laughter once again rang out in the now almost vacant   
  
arrivalhall.  
  
Good, no one seemed to have noticed his little exchange with this subject.   
  
And the arrival of soldiers could easily be explained.  
  
A possible terrorist attack from a Taelon Hybrid.  
  
The public would, easily bought as they were, believe it with out to many   
  
questions.  
  
The girl's eyes widened in horror and surprise as a hypo suddenly connected to   
  
her neck, administering a highly   
  
potent sedative, which had her unconscious in seconds.   
  
As the soldiers dragged the girl to the nearby portal, no one noticed the small   
  
whisp of air as something moved to a   
  
now unguarded fireexit from behind a pillar.  
  
Seconds later, spectators, if there had been any, could have watched the   
  
surprising sight of the cargodoor in an   
  
unmarked, dark van suddenly opened and closed on it's own volition.  
  
Once inside, he deactivated the small Jaridian cloaking device, slowly fazing   
  
back into sight.  
  
Augur handed his Global to Street, who started downloading the data from the   
  
portal to the mainframe.  
  
"They bought it. She's in."  
  
And Sandoval, Belman, Street and Augur could now only wait.  
  
-------  
  
The Complex  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
-------  
  
"We are running out of suitable cells, thanks to Bettis's little stunt. Take her   
  
down to the other Freaks cell and put   
  
her in with him. After all, who am I to not allow the great reuniting of a   
  
family."  
  
The Man allowed his good mood to shine through.  
  
He believed he now had the key to breaking It completely.  
  
He didn't notice the eyes of the girl opening slightly to mark the way the goons   
  
were dragging her, a slight   
  
glimmer of something alien shinning in them.  
  
She was in.  
  
Her head was pounding with the agony from counteracting whatever drugs they had   
  
injected her with.  
  
Human physiology had it's limits.   
  
But she was not human.  
  
And this was a very primitive drug, easily overcome.  
  
All she had to do now, was find the Child, waking him up and wait for phase 2 of   
  
the plan to start.  
  
And it seemed these people was actually making it easy on her.  
  
Anr'el quickly closed her eyes completely to avoid them detecting, that she was   
  
awake, as the guard roughly   
  
yanked her into an elevator.  
  
------  
  
The Airducts  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
------  
  
So that was what they had been up to.  
  
Strange.  
  
Bettis hadn't known about Liam having a daughter.  
  
But there was so many things he didn't know about the man.  
  
Poor girl.  
  
Thank good he had finally located the rest of the ODK cell.  
  
Now he only had to get them out again.  
  
He needed a distraction.  
  
"I wonder if....."  
  
He headed towards the powercore.  
  
-------  
  
Kimeran Mastship "Justice"  
  
Orbiting Earth in ID-space  
  
-------  
  
Ca'el had everything ready, finally.  
  
The Commander was in.  
  
Everything was ready for the second part of the plan.  
  
Now all they could do was wait for the signal.  
  
And pray that things went OK.  
  
-------  
  
The Kimeran Commonality.  
  
-------  
  
Liam was getting worried.  
  
Not to long ago, he had noticed a sudden increase in activity, followed by   
  
several Kimera, including Ca'el, exiting   
  
the link.  
  
Something was going on.  
  
He didn't know what, but it seemed serious.  
  
"Anr'el ?" he send carefully, not knowing exactly HOW to contact her.  
  
"Child. Liam."   
  
A faint whisper in his ear.  
  
"What's going on ?" His anxiousness was clearly expressed in his voice.  
  
"Sh...Everything is OK. We are working on getting your body to safety." Her   
  
voice was getting more powerful as   
  
he sensed her presence increasing, although not in the Commonality.  
  
This seemed more...Physical ?.  
  
"It is." She was reading his mind again.  
  
"Why aren't you in here with me ?" He was getting frightened.  
  
"I cannot allow the people around me to notice me being awake. Please be calm.   
  
We'll be together soon.."  
  
Liam, put slightly at ease by the soothing tone of Anr'els voice, didn't ask   
  
anymore questions.  
  
If she was close to his physical body, working on getting him out, he would not   
  
be the reason why she was   
  
detected.  
  
All he could do was wait.  
  
------  
  
The Van  
  
A couple of streets from Pentagon  
  
------  
  
The space was cramped and Sandoval was developing a slight notion of   
  
claustrophobia.  
  
Not to mention the weird flashbacks from his days in the FBI his CVI kept   
  
digging up.  
  
And the headache.  
  
He chalked it up to nervousness.  
  
In the old days, he would not have counted on one person alone to do this.  
  
He would have send an entire squad.  
  
But then again, Anr'el wasn't your usual human.  
  
She was Kimera.  
  
And that species had, as far as he could tell, literally thousands of years of   
  
experience in blending in and going   
  
undercover, although he suspected, that this was one of the first times they did   
  
so in not-so-peaceful intentions.  
  
He still had a hard time in dealing with the stuff, he had watched her do after   
  
Juliana had given her the requested   
  
bloodsamples.  
  
One thing was being told about the shapeshifting abilities of the Kimera,   
  
another thing was watching it being done.  
  
------  
  
The Lair  
  
Beneath Saint Michael's Church  
  
2 hours earlier.  
  
------  
  
Juliana was entering the Lair, a large bloodtransport case in one hand, a very   
  
LARGE bag of medical supplies in   
  
the other and a rather breathless expression in her face.  
  
She hated the public transportation in Washington, but it was one of the few   
  
things, which made it possible for one   
  
of the most famous people on the planet to go unnoticed through the city.  
  
No one expected her to use the bus anymore.  
  
That, and the fact that she was being disguised by a rather ugly looking set of   
  
clothes and an equally ugly wig.  
  
The downside was the fact, that she had had to run to catch that last   
  
subwaytrain to get here.  
  
And she wasn't in as good a shape as when she was 20.  
  
Or had been just 5 years before.  
  
"Face it, you are getting to old for this stuff." she muttered under her breath.  
  
But she would be damned, if she wouldn't see this through.  
  
Liam needed her.  
  
Anr'el noticed her entering.  
  
"Have you got it ?"  
  
"Yes." Juliana handed her two testtubes filled with a red liquid.  
  
"That one is a sample from Liam, taking just before his disappearance.   
  
Its kind of old now, but it should still have enough live cells in it for your   
  
use."   
  
She allowed herself a satisfied grin.  
  
"The other one is from Renee Palmer."  
  
"What, you mean that bitch actually agreed to help us ?" Augur was suprised.   
  
After his last encounter with the Ice Queen, this was the last he expected.  
  
Julianna's grin grew.  
  
"Who said, that I told her what it was for ?"  
  
At Augurs laughter, Anr'els left eyebrow decided to do a Tuvok impersonation,   
  
doing its best to reach her hairline.  
  
That, of cause, made Augur loose it completely.  
  
Wiping the tears of his face he explained.  
  
"When me and Sandy..."   
  
The nickname had Sandoval sending him a dark, very implantlike, scowl.   
  
That didn't phase Augur at all though.  
  
"When we was trying to hunt down people to help rescue Liam, she said some   
  
stuff, which I am not to repeat here.   
  
The message was clear though: She wouldn't take time out of her busy schedule   
  
just to help an alien, even if said   
  
alien had saved the world.  
  
She didn't think Liam was worth it."   
  
He sighed, his good mood vaporised by the memory.   
  
"And this makes you laugh because..." Anr'el failed to see the joke.  
  
Augurs smirk returned.  
  
"Looks as though she's going to help anyway though, wanting or not wanting   
  
to..."  
  
Anr'el still failed to see the joke, but choose to let it go.  
  
Human humour...  
  
And she believed, that some of the stuff she found hilarious would probably   
  
receive the same reception if the tables   
  
were turned.  
  
Then she returned to the task at hand.  
  
Blending two sets of DNA was difficult, but possible, make her able to pass of   
  
as a child of Liam's.  
  
She could, of cause, have chosen to just go with Liam's DNA structure, but the   
  
people, who's attention they were   
  
trying to get, would probably get suspicious, if a 100% identical twin turned   
  
up.  
  
She uncaped the testtube with Liam's blood.  
  
She was finally going to find out, exactly WHAT the Child looked like.  
  
The images of the dreamworld or the Commonality was based on peoples own   
  
impression of themselves, and   
  
although mostly accurate, there were always some differences.  
  
And computer images or photos would never be the same thing as watching the face   
  
in the mirror.  
  
She poured the small amount of blood into her right hand, her Shaqarava   
  
instantly gathering the information   
  
needed for the transformation.  
  
The world disappeared in a blinding white light, as the pain washed through her   
  
body, only with difficulty being   
  
kept from flowing through her downtoned link into the Commonality.  
  
The next thing she knew, she was lying on the floor, her clothes feeling oddly   
  
tight at some places, like the   
  
shoulders and too loose at others.   
  
The genetic memories of Hag'el and Liam and all of those before them flooded her   
  
own mind, for a moment   
  
making it hard to separate her own from Liam's.  
  
But after a while, she managed to do so and slowly rose, her viewpoint on the   
  
world now a couple of feet higher   
  
than that of her previous host.  
  
Sandoval moved to help support her, her still not being completely used to her   
  
new body.  
  
It had been amassing watching the transformation.   
  
The change had started gradually, spreading like ripples in water and picking up   
  
speed as Anr'el's body had   
  
adjusted to the new DNA pattern.  
  
And now he was staring at an identical twin of Liam's.   
  
Of cause, Liam would never be caught dead wearing a tight tanktop and a skirt,   
  
not to mention highheeled boots,   
  
which would now be at least 3 numbers to small, but still.  
  
Incredible.  
  
"A mirror..."Anr'el whispered hoarsely, not only looking like Liam, but also   
  
sounding like him.  
  
The awed Street quickly handed "him" her compact.  
  
Anr'el looked in the small mirror, carefully running the tips of her fingers   
  
over the face, she saw in it.  
  
She had done it.  
  
Now for the hard part.  
  
She straightened up and handed the small mirror back to Street, then uncaped the   
  
second testtube.  
  
Following the same procedure as before, she managed to keep her DNA from   
  
changing into the Palmer DNA   
  
completely, stopping it midway through the process.  
  
The pain was excruciating, but again she barely managed to keep it from the   
  
Commonality.  
  
No use in upsetting Liam and everyone else unnecessary.  
  
Her clothes now felt more normal, although still a bit to tight.  
  
She was female again.  
  
With a few alterations in her body, she managed to look like she was a teenager.  
  
Street spoke up.  
  
"You need some other clothes. Those things you've got on is WAY to old fashioned   
  
if you want to pass of as a   
  
normal teen." She went over to a nearby dresser.  
  
"Thank God I never got around to cleaning this place up."  
  
15 minutes later, Anr'el was still in the tanktop, but now with a pair of tight   
  
jeans and one of Liam's old   
  
trenchcoats.  
  
Augur had meanwhile brought the temporary portal online.  
  
"Everything is ready here. The Portal records will have you having taken a   
  
series of jumps from somewhere in   
  
Canada to Washington DC.   
  
This portal will take you to the Washington portal station whenever you wish."  
  
"Good. You and the rest better get in position at the portalstation. We need the   
  
information of the frequency of the   
  
portals they are using, if Ca'el and the others are needed to go in and get us   
  
out. Here."  
  
Anr'el, her voice now a pleasant soprano, handed Augur a small disk.  
  
"It's a Jaridian cloaking device. You activate and deactivate it here." She   
  
pointed at a small button.   
  
"You'll be able to see yourself and everyone around you, but no one will be able   
  
to see you. The device works by   
  
changing the frequency with which your body vibrates."  
  
"Kind of like those cloaking devices in Star Trek, right ?"   
  
Anr'el send Street a questioning look. Star Trek ?  
  
"I guess I will have to take your word for it..."She said, none of her acquired   
  
memories letting her know, what the   
  
heck the hacker was talking about.  
  
"Cool, ready to rock !" Street announced loudly, heading towards the elevator.  
  
"Are you guys coming ?"  
  
------  
  
The Van  
  
A couple of streets from Pentagon  
  
Now.  
  
------  
  
Sandoval changed position for God only knew which time.   
  
The entire thing went down like a charm.  
  
As they had long suspected, even before the Taelons disappeared, there was a   
  
monitoring system rigged up in the   
  
Portals, and it had only been minutes from Anr'els arrival in the Portal Station   
  
to when she was caught.  
  
The artificial trail Augur had set up, had allowed for their opponents to know   
  
about her goal for a good 30 minutes   
  
before Anr'el actually activated the temporary portal.  
  
And as foreseen, the enemy had used a portal to remove themselves and their   
  
"prisoner" from the public eye.  
  
If they only knew, which kind of tiger they had let into their complex...  
  
Augur had got the frequencies using a Global and the Jaridian Cloaking device   
  
and after having uploaded the   
  
information to the mainframe in the Lair, the AI of it had passed on the   
  
information for the Kimera through a link   
  
to their flagship, the "Justice".  
  
And now they were waiting for the final steps in liberating Liam, only a few   
  
streets from the place, where he was   
  
being kept prisoner.  
  
All Sandoval could think of was, that his son was somewhere in there, in danger.  
  
He changed position again.  
  
"Sandoval, stop fidgeting." A slightly annoyed Augur said, getting a bad case of   
  
cabin fever himself.  
  
In the same moment, a loud beep from his global caught his attention.  
  
It was a short text, a signal from the Kimera.  
  
Part 2 of the plan was about to commence.  
  
The 4 people got ready to move.  
  
-------  
  
The Powercore  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
30 minutes before.  
  
-------  
  
The people, who ran this place, had made a critical mistake.  
  
They had thought him confined to the airducts and only interested in getting   
  
out.  
  
They were wrong.  
  
And they had underestimated him.  
  
BIG mistake !  
  
Bettis sneaked out of an airvent close to the main control panel of the huge ID-  
  
core, which this place was powered   
  
with.  
  
If he could sabotage the core, making it overload WITHOUT blowing up (he had no   
  
intention on spending the rest   
  
of his life looking like a roasted chicken, thank you very much), it would take   
  
the rest of the powersystem with it,   
  
including the virtual glass barriers.   
  
The portals had their own powersuplies, so he had no worries there.  
  
And the distraction would be perfect for him getting the rest of the ODK people   
  
out.  
  
Hopefully the commotion would also allow them to get to Liam, his kid and the   
  
Colonel fast and unnoticed, if he   
  
timed the overload right.  
  
He quickly made the necessary alterations in the controls, then speeded back to   
  
the airducts as a guard came a little   
  
to close for comfort.  
  
Now for the others.  
  
------  
  
Liam's Cell.  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
1 hour 30 minutes ago.  
  
------  
  
Zeke had watched them throw the stranger into Liam's cell, chasing the scientist   
  
types out.  
  
The Bastard had approached the pair.  
  
"I suggest you wake up your precious father."  
  
Zeke gasped loudly, the shock to much for his already strained self-control.  
  
Father ?!  
  
He would never in a million years have suspected this !  
  
The Man ignored him and continued.  
  
"Unless, of cause, you would like us to shoot him right now." The last remark   
  
was said with an evil smirk.  
  
He loved the power, this little game gave him.  
  
"I..I don't know HOW !" The teen said, her voice choked with tears.  
  
"Well then, ms Palmer, I suggest you start working on it. You have until   
  
tomorrow morning or else...."  
  
He laughed, then turned on his heels and walked away, still laughing loudly.  
  
"Don't do it. They'll only start hurting him again. And in the end you'll both   
  
end up dead anyway." Zeke tried to   
  
reason with the girl across the hallway, as she carefully approached the   
  
sleeping Liam.  
  
She shot him a surprisingly knowing and unscared look.  
  
"I know."  
  
Zeke took one good look at the Girl.  
  
She looked like a teen.  
  
Behaved like one.  
  
And her features showed, that she could be a child of Liam's.  
  
But the look in her eyes told a different story.  
  
And Zeke was deadcertain that something was up.  
  
"Who..WHAT are you ?" he asked in his mind, not daring to ask the question out   
  
loud out of fear that the bastards   
  
was listening in.  
  
Anr'el couldn't afford more warning to the prisoner on the oppersite side of the   
  
hallway.  
  
It was to risky.  
  
The walls in this place had ears.  
  
All she could hope for was that he knew how to keep up to pace, when this place   
  
went up in flames.  
  
She sat down next to Liam on the cot, his body instinctively recognising her as   
  
one of his own kind, as a no-threat   
  
creature.  
  
She grabbed his hand, clasping it palm-to-palm against her own, ignoring the   
  
glowing shaqarava, and entered the   
  
Commonality.  
  
"Child" she send. "It is time to wake up."  
  
Deep within the Commonality Liam heard her voice and slowly followed it back to   
  
the real world.  
  
His eyes fluttered open.  
  
"Easy." A strange female voice said, her breath tickling his ear. "Don't let   
  
them know, that you are awake. You   
  
need to gather some strength. Rest."  
  
Tempting as it was to open them, Liam kept his eyes closed, the only outward   
  
sign that something had changed,   
  
the fact that he was no longer glowing.  
  
Anr'el send a message to Ca'el.  
  
"Initiate part 2 when I say so. The Child need to gather some strength."  
  
Ca'el's answer came through clearly.  
  
"Acknowledged. Keep safe, my friend. And keep your head down. This could get   
  
nasty."  
  
"I will. See you soon."  
  
------  
  
The Kimeran Mastship "Justice"  
  
Orbiting Earth in ID-space  
  
Now  
  
------  
  
The signal came through nice and clear.  
  
Anr'el and the Child was finally ready to move.  
  
Ca'el gave the final order.  
  
"Take us out of ID-space and open communications, override any frequencies the   
  
humans are using for   
  
communication."  
  
He took a deep breath to prepare himself, as he felt the "Justice" reenter   
  
normal space.  
  
"Communications online in 5.4.3.2.1"  
  
Ca'el opened his eyes, looking every bit the strict commander of a huge   
  
warfleet.  
  
"I am Ca'el of the Kimera. You have hurt one of our Children.   
  
Now you must get ready to face the consequences."  
  
And in the Complex all hell broke loose.....  
  
------  
  
The Mans Office  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
------  
  
He was watching the Subjects in cell SL27.  
  
He was still awed at the mental strength the male subject, which he called A,   
  
had shown evidence of having.  
  
To be able to remove the memories of a birth from the mothers mind.  
  
Truly a feat.  
  
But Renee Palmers reaction to his questions about the whereabouts of the girl,   
  
they had tracked from Canada, had   
  
not been mistaken.  
  
She had been outraged, truly outraged, claming, that there was no child.  
  
She hadn't lied.  
  
But DNA didn't lie either.  
  
So that left only one explanation.  
  
Subject A had used her as a vessel for his bastard offspring and then removed   
  
the memories of the entire event   
  
from her memories.  
  
He wondered how many other aliens were out there.  
  
He would have to remember to ask.  
  
What a shame, that they couldn't drag in the DI president for questioning, but   
  
she was to publicly known.   
  
Maybe if....  
  
That was as far as he got as the monitor suddenly flickered, the picture   
  
changing to that of an aliening, consisting   
  
of pure green energy.  
  
It spoke.  
  
"I am Ca'el of the Kimera. You have hurt one of our Children.   
  
Now you must get ready to face the consequences.  
  
We know where he is.  
  
We know what was done to him.  
  
We are coming to get him.  
  
You can't stop us, so don't try.  
  
Resistance is futile and will only cost blood.  
  
YOUR blood.  
  
This is your last chance:  
  
Turn the man you know as Liam Kincaid, former Companion Protector and Resistance   
  
leader, saviour of your   
  
world and many lives, and those belonging to him, over to us unharmed and we   
  
will be merciful.  
  
If this is not followed, if he or any of those with him is hurt any further, the   
  
Kimeran Warfleet will turn your planet   
  
into ashes."  
  
The screen blacked out.  
  
The Man hit an alarmbutton.  
  
They were under attack.  
  
------  
  
Kimeran Mastship "Justice"  
  
Orbiting Earth.  
  
------  
  
"Send down the shuttles and have the troops deployed through the Washington   
  
Portal station.  
  
Then bring in the ships capable of entering the atmosphere, have them hover over   
  
all major government buildings   
  
in the city.  
  
Bring the "Justice" down on top of the building the Humans call the White   
  
House."  
  
Ca'el ordered, following Anr'els plan to the point.  
  
By drawing the attention of the humans away from the real point of action, they   
  
hoped to give the Commander the   
  
time necessary to get the Child to a portal and out.   
  
They would go directly to the "Justice".  
  
If time was too short or something went wrong with the portal, they would go to   
  
the surface instead, getting   
  
whisked away by Augur and the others in the van.  
  
And if everything else failed, 7 Kimeran teams were ready to use the information   
  
provided by Augur to portal in,   
  
invading the prison and freeing their people by force.  
  
Ca'el hoped, that this last option would not be necessary.  
  
It was much to dangerous.  
  
And the Kimera hated violence in general.  
  
But these people had hurt Liam.  
  
And any compassion Ca'el felt on behalf of the humans disappeared from his mind.  
  
They would pay.  
  
The ultimatum delivered, the "Justice" entered the atmosphere.  
  
The time of waiting was over.  
  
------  
  
Liam's Cell  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
------  
  
Anr'el had given the signal, now she needed to get Liam out.  
  
If Ca'el had done his job, every monitoring device in this installation should   
  
be burned out now, the virus which   
  
caused the destruction carried by a special signal aimed at this complex, but   
  
masked by the message, he had just   
  
send to the world above their heads.  
  
The rest was a matter of luck.  
  
Luck and speed.  
  
"Time to open your eyes, Child." Anr'el didn't bother to whisper, as she got up   
  
and moved over to the virtual glass   
  
barrier, placing her hands on it, ignoring the burning sensation the matrix   
  
caused in her hands.  
  
Then she activated her Shaqarava.  
  
Liam opened his eyes, fighting off the halfdoze he had been in, just in time to   
  
watch the barrier disappear in a rain   
  
of bright sparkles.  
  
The tall teenager, who caused this, turned to him, holding out a hand and said   
  
with a small smile:  
  
"Come, Child, it is time to go home."  
  
Getting up on slightly unsteady legs, he made his way to the exit of the cell,   
  
getting offered and accepting Anr'els   
  
supporting shoulder.  
  
Then he remembered Zeke.  
  
"Wait, we can't go without Zeke. Him and his men got caught trying to get me out   
  
of here." He nodded towards the   
  
cell oppersite his own.   
  
"Don't worry about me, just get the Hell out of here !" Zeke demanded loudly,   
  
wanting nothing more than seeing   
  
Liam safe out of here.  
  
Anr'el simply release Liam from her hold and turned towards Zeke's cell.  
  
"Duck."  
  
Then she fired.  
  
------  
  
A Cell lane  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
------  
  
Bettis was watching his friends from the ODK in their cells.  
  
These ones were ordinary cell, with bars.  
  
It seemed like the bastards was running out of the VIP-ones with virtual glass.  
  
He grinned.  
  
His little stunt with the glasses seemed to have worked better than expected.  
  
His grin disappeared.  
  
There were more than enough guards to compensate for the lesser security,   
  
though.  
  
And he didn't favour Kamikaze missions.  
  
He could only hope, that his little ace in hole, the overloading powercore,   
  
would create enough distractions for him   
  
to get his friends out.  
  
Suddenly an alarm rang out, most of the guards running towards the other end of   
  
the corridor, apparently listening   
  
to something in their earpieces.  
  
He quickly activated his own.  
  
"...attack, I repeat we are under attack ! All personnel please report to the   
  
topfloor immediately!"  
  
Bettis could barely hold back a loud laugh.  
  
Looked like the cavalry was finally arriving.  
  
There was only one guard left.  
  
That caused Bettis no problems, and 5 minutes later, he and his ODK team mates   
  
were running towards the   
  
nearest elevator, heading towards the cells of Liam and Zeke.  
  
In the lowest regions of the Complex, a marker on a computer screen hit red.  
  
------  
  
A Hallway  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
------  
  
Things were going slow.  
  
They hadn't been noticed for now, but due to the serious injuries of Colonel   
  
Kincaid, they were forced to move   
  
more slowly than she liked.  
  
And Liam wasn't completely sure on his feet either.  
  
His long period of first torture and then inactivity in an almost coma had   
  
weakened him more, than she cared to   
  
think about.  
  
And even the almost 2 hours, he had been resting, had not been enough to restore   
  
him completely.  
  
As for the Colonel, the small amount of healing she had been able to administer   
  
without drawing any attention to   
  
them, had only helped marginally.  
  
A cold fury woke inside her.  
  
If they had been this hard on Zeke, what hadn't they done to Liam ?  
  
No wonder, he had been in such pain.  
  
She was grateful, that his body had been able to heal the physical wounds, even   
  
if the mental ones were only now   
  
getting ready to emerge.  
  
And those would be the worst.  
  
She knew from bitter experience.  
  
Sometimes, being as archaic old as her had a terrible pricetag attached to it.  
  
Who ever was behind this, they would pay....  
  
But right now, they needed to get out of here.  
  
Fast.  
  
She heard the sound of approaching feet and quickly dragged the two people in   
  
her charge through a door.  
  
"In here, quick."  
  
It was a storage room.   
  
Lots of shelves with lots of everyday stuff on it.  
  
Even uniforms.  
  
Zeke grinned, as he realised it.  
  
He had just found a way of making their journey easier.  
  
A LOT easier.  
  
And from the look on Liam's face, he was thinking the same thing....  
  
"I think we need a change of clothes." They said in unison. 


	6. 6

------  
  
The Van  
  
A couple of streets from the Pentagon  
  
------  
  
They noticed the change immediately.  
  
People started running, panicking like blind animals.  
  
Cars collided or was run of the street as their drivers suddenly got something   
  
else than driving on their mind and   
  
started staring at the sky.  
  
A dark shadow was enveloping the entire street.  
  
Exchanging one look with eachother, the 4 people hurriedly exited the van,   
  
staring in open-mouthed wonder at the   
  
sight, which greeted them.  
  
It was truly magnificent.  
  
Dark blue and purple tones with a greenish tan to it, the hull, made from a   
  
mixture of bioslurry and Virtual Glass   
  
barriers, glowed with a life of its own.  
  
It looked nothing like the description of the Repository, Liam had given Augur   
  
and Juliana after Lily had been   
  
kidnapped by the Jaridian, who had escaped from the Taelons.  
  
It looked more like a much larger version of the Taelon Mothership, but with a   
  
difference.  
  
Were the Taelon mothership had been in perfect symmetry, not one angle or dent   
  
in the hull being there without a   
  
reason, this ship was unsymmetric, like something which was alive and had been   
  
allowed to develop on it's own.  
  
But that only made it even more magnificent.  
  
The huge ship was descending, heading toward Capitol Hill, before it finally   
  
settled in a hover over the White   
  
House.  
  
"Justice" had arrived.  
  
"I guess we better get closer to the Pentagon. Just in case Anr'el and Liam   
  
needs our help getting out."  
  
Augur gave Sandoval a disbelieving look.  
  
"Take a look at that thing ! Do you actually believe, that they would need US to   
  
help one of their own out ?!"  
  
Sandoval gave a small snort.  
  
"No, but it's were we are supposed to be." He had to force his brain to keep   
  
functioning.   
  
The sight of "Justice", just by it's sheer volume, was a mindblower.  
  
And his splitting headache wasn't making it easier.  
  
He hadn't felt a headache like this in a long time.  
  
But it was only the stress.....  
  
It had to be only stress.  
  
He wouldn't even consider the OTHER option.  
  
Not now.  
  
Not when he had finally found his son.  
  
The Gods wouldn't be that cruel.  
  
He shook the sinister thoughts from his mind, as the group hastily re-entered   
  
the van and drove towards the   
  
Pentagon, going against traffic all the way, as people in their panic was trying   
  
get out of the city as fast as possible,   
  
leaving even their families behind, if they didn't happen to be in the cars with   
  
them.  
  
"Hooray for movies like "Independence Day"" Sandoval mumbled sarcastically.  
  
Loyalty about getting ones families out first was ok in fiction, but in real   
  
life, when panic started to rule one's   
  
actions, most people only thought about one thing: THEM surviving.  
  
On their way, they passed several public portals and watched in silent amazement   
  
as squad after squad of Kimeran   
  
troops exited ID space in an almost unending stream, their only weapons brightly   
  
glowing shaqarava, but still the   
  
greenglowing aliens was the most frightening sight any one could imagine.  
  
Juliana felt a cold shiver go down her spine.  
  
The Kimera all had a look of intense, cold fury on their faces.  
  
And she couldn't help wondering, what they would do, if Liam died.  
  
She knew deadcertainly, that her own anger at that would be NOTHING against that   
  
of the Kimera.  
  
-------  
  
The Complex  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
-------  
  
They were carefully making their way towards the cells of Liam and Zeke.  
  
Somewhere along the way, they had managed to ambush a couple of guards, the   
  
abrupt fight going unnoticed in   
  
the now almost deserted hallways of the lower levels.  
  
But the longer, they could continue to go unnoticed, the higher the chance of   
  
success.  
  
So carefulness was the better advisor here.  
  
Bettis motioned the men behind him to grab their weapons, as 3 people in   
  
military outfits, two supporting the 3rd,   
  
slowly approached their position.  
  
The men raised their guns, watching as the tallest of the 3 adjusted how the   
  
middle man rested his arm on his   
  
shoulder.  
  
Liam sighed, that was better.  
  
Zeke didn't feel quite as heavy now.  
  
"Just a few more steps, and you can rest."  
  
------  
  
The Mans office  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
------  
  
He had tried to placate the hysterical Hubble Urich as much as he could.  
  
That, off cause, wasn't much.  
  
The sheer magnitude and amount of ships, not only in materialising in space, but   
  
also threatening every capitol on   
  
the planet, was staggering.  
  
Urich had demanded the immediate release of the Subjects, not just the Aliens,   
  
but also the traitorous weaklings   
  
from the ODK.  
  
He sighed.  
  
Didn't that coward realise, that right now, the only card they had to negotiate   
  
with, was the prisoners ?  
  
And then there was the empty threat about the Aliens knowing, where they were   
  
keeping the half-breeds.  
  
What a scam.  
  
If they had known, they would not have wasted time in deploying troops in the   
  
city, they would have come straight   
  
here.  
  
It was what he would have done.  
  
Getting up from his chair, he called out a security troop and went down towards   
  
SL27.  
  
Time to have another little chat with the Freaks.  
  
And in the Oval Office, Hubble Urich watched with dread as an alien shuttlecraft   
  
landed right in front of his   
  
window.   
  
------  
  
The Powercore   
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
------  
  
An unnoticed warning started to flash on the computer screen as the energy   
  
levels in the ID-core started to raise to   
  
dangerous levels.  
  
The marker went up another notch.  
  
The process could no longer be stopped.  
  
It would be lethal.  
  
Even the best minds could err.  
  
And somewhere along the line, Bettis had made a mistake.  
  
------  
  
The White House  
  
Capitol Hill  
  
------  
  
Ca'el was taking his time getting out of the shuttle.   
  
So this was the so-called center of the free world.  
  
Clearly designed to be intimidating.  
  
Not working on him though.  
  
But then again, he was also the one currently in command of the largest armada   
  
of warships this planet had ever   
  
seen.  
  
But then again, they had only seen a few warships, even when the Jaridians   
  
threatened to invade.  
  
The massive Kimeran presence was, to use an earthly expression, sever overkill.  
  
He had to strain to keep a slightly wicked smile from slipping on to his "face".  
  
He actually felt amused by this.  
  
The humans were to busy panicking about the arrival of the ships to notice the   
  
small taskforce already there.  
  
Anr'el would have to be very, very uncarefull and very, very loud in order to   
  
get their attention.  
  
And you couldn't accuse the Commander of ever being anything but careful.   
  
She wouldn't have survived the war if she hadn't been.  
  
Ca'el carefully schooled his features as he approached the guarded door to the   
  
building.  
  
So far, things had gone according to plan. And it was his duty to keep it that   
  
way.  
  
And that meant keeping up the charade of him being the Commander of this fleet   
  
up a little longer.  
  
If he remembered the layout plans of this place correctly, all he would have to   
  
do when he got in, was to take the   
  
door on the left.  
  
Of cause that meant getting past that guard first.  
  
Or rather those 12 heavily armed special ops trained guards.  
  
He made a gesture to his pilot.  
  
And right behind each guard at least one angry looking Kimera appeared, their   
  
glowing shaqarava raised right   
  
next to the ears of the person in front of them.  
  
12 heavily armed special ops trained guards ?  
  
Not a problem.  
  
Suddenly confronted with their own mortality, they quickly surrendered.   
  
------  
  
The Cell  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
------  
  
The Man let out a frustrated scream of anger as he saw the empty cells.  
  
The inhuman sound echoed eerily through the almost abandoned hallways.  
  
And even his guards looked at him with fear in their eyes.  
  
His trading cards were gone, the only witness of the escape the silent, scorched   
  
walls of the cells.   
  
But how had they done it ?  
  
Ever since the transmission from the alien fleet earlier, every piece of   
  
surveillance equipment in this place had   
  
burnt out.  
  
Bettis.  
  
It had to have been Bettis.  
  
But he was just a computerfreak, all brains, no guts.  
  
And the scorchmarks was all on the inside of where the Virtual Glass had been.  
  
But still, it had to have been him.  
  
"Spread out. They can't have gotten far. And have someone check on the ODK   
  
scum." He ordered, seemingly the   
  
same old ice-cold bastard as usual, but inwardly starting to unravel.  
  
This couldn't be happening.  
  
All his carefully laid plans.  
  
Ashes.  
  
As the squad dispensed, looking for the fugitives, he started to make his way up   
  
to the toplevels.  
  
The Freaks would pay for this.  
  
And there was only one way out.  
  
-------  
  
The Complex  
  
Beneath the Pentagon.  
  
-------  
  
Liam froze to the spot as something, a picture, showed itself to him.  
  
He hadn't had one of those in a very, very long time.   
  
Not since Boone's funeral.  
  
A glimpse of the future.  
  
But what was it ?  
  
He concentrated on retrieving it, but failed.  
  
"What is it ?" Anr'el had felt Liam stiffen and on a mental level, she had   
  
gotten a weird ripple of...something   
  
through the link, she still maintained with him.  
  
"I'm not sure...I got this glimpse...Something is about to happen, but I can't   
  
seem to find out what..." Liam's voice   
  
faltered, not sure on how to explain it.   
  
Not sure he wanted it explained.  
  
An Oracle ? Liam was an Oracle ? Anr'el felt a sudden wave of surprise.   
  
Only few Kimera was gifted, or cursed depending on your viewpoint, with the   
  
ability to see the future.  
  
That he had been able to remain stable without any kind of training for this   
  
long was truly remarkable.  
  
But this was for later. As so much else.  
  
"It's ok, try not to concentrate at it so much, then maybe it will come back to   
  
you. Here, let me help you." She   
  
closed her eyes, gently seeking entrance into his mind.  
  
She had the theoretical knowledge of this in her genes from one of her   
  
ancestors, maybe she could be able to help   
  
him somehow.  
  
He felt the gentle mindprobe, forcing himself to relax.   
  
Anr'el wouldn't hurt him.   
  
Or betray him.  
  
She was NOT an enemy.  
  
Anr'el on her hand, felt like she was fighting a hedgehog.  
  
All tags and claws.  
  
Liam's mind in sleep had some amazing defence mechanisms.  
  
Liam's mind awake was close to impossible.  
  
Then she felt the walls slowly going down.  
  
The fear he was feeling was horrifying.  
  
Who ever had caused all this distrust would better be dead, or she would make   
  
sure that whom ever it was would   
  
soon be so.  
  
It wasn't just the recent events.  
  
It was something else as well..  
  
An old wound.  
  
She caught a flash of a memory, a Taelon and a game of  
  
Lasha, then it was gone.  
  
Liam sensed her anger and mistook it's target.  
  
He had messed up again, hadn't he ? It was all his fault again.  
  
His shoulder slumped.  
  
Liam Kincaid, the constant failure.  
  
Anr'el felt his misery.  
  
"NO ! It's not you !" She send forcefully, knowing that if she only said it, he   
  
would not believe her.   
  
But you couldn't lie in the link.  
  
"But.."  
  
"No buts, Liam. It's not your fault, any of it. If anyone, blame Hag'el for   
  
leaving you alone without a mentor."   
  
She forced herself to calm down.   
  
She was letting her anger get to her, and it was harming Liam.  
  
"Liam, I'm not an expert in these things, but I may be able to help you   
  
remember. Will you let me ?"  
  
Still shaken by the intensity of Anr'els feelings, he slowly gave his consent.  
  
He felt Anr'el do a mental "twist" of sorts within his mind and suddenly the   
  
flash from before was standing clearly   
  
in his mind.   
  
It was weapons.   
  
3 dead people on the floor.  
  
Bettis bending over one of them.  
  
Then a scream.  
  
"NOOOO!".  
  
And the scene took place right here.  
  
Simultaneously Anr'el and Liam opened their eyes.  
  
"oh oh.".  
  
At this time, Zeke had finally noticed, that something strange was going on with   
  
the two people supporting him.  
  
"Was that a good "oh oh" or a bad "Oh oh" ?" he asked.  
  
"Definitely bad. Someone is about to ambush us."  
  
"But who ? If it's Bettis, then we should try to show him, who we are, but it   
  
could also be the guards...."Liam's   
  
voice faltered.   
  
Anr'el made a quick decision.  
  
"Stay here. Their weapons can't hurt me more than marginally."  
  
Then she slowly moved forward, hands wide away from her body, trying to be as   
  
nonthreatning as possible.  
  
Bettis stared.  
  
Something weird was going on.  
  
First the 3 people suddenly stopped, and now one of them was moving forward   
  
alone.  
  
Did they know of the ambush ?  
  
"Hello ? I know you are there. Please, we just want to get out of here. We are   
  
no threat to you."   
  
Well, he guessed that answered his question.  
  
Now what ?  
  
-------  
  
The Energy core  
  
Beneath the Pentagon.  
  
-------  
  
An unheard, looped computer voice started a monotone warning signal.  
  
"Warning: Complete meltdown in t minus 5 minutes. Please evacuate the Complex   
  
immediately. This is not a   
  
drill."  
  
But thanks to the virus, which was still busy shutting down communications in   
  
the Complex, no one heard.  
  
------  
  
The Van  
  
Outside the Pentagon  
  
------  
  
"Sandoval, I'm getting some weird energy readings from beneath the building."   
  
Augur was slowly getting scared.  
  
Something downthere was building up one mother of an overload.   
  
And it was getting close to critical.  
  
Sandoval took one look at the display, then turned to the hacker.  
  
"Looks like an ID-core. Try to locate it. We need to know where it is so that we   
  
can get Liam, Anr'el and ourselves   
  
out of the way when that thing blows."  
  
Great, what else could happen.  
  
------  
  
The White house  
  
------  
  
Ca'el had made his way to the oval office and was now staring at the most   
  
powerful man on Earth.  
  
Although he didn't LOOK like such a powerful man right now.  
  
He actually looked kind of frightened.  
  
REAL frightened.  
  
"Ah...You must be the human known as Hubble Urich, the man, which my sources   
  
here on Earth have linked to   
  
the abduction and subsequent torture of one of our Children." Ca'el gave the   
  
human a cold smile.  
  
"I don't know..." Hubble started.  
  
Ca'el raised a hand.  
  
"Do not try to deny it. We have proof." With a wicked smile, Ca'el opened the   
  
portable datastream he was carrying   
  
and showed Hubble the conversation, which Bettis had recorded and send to the   
  
Kimeras human allies.  
  
Hubble blanched and staggered backwards, sagging into his office chair without   
  
knowing it as all of his plans   
  
dissolved like a Fata Morgana in the sun.  
  
The Alien in front of the table sat down in the oppersite chair gracefully.  
  
"Now, as I see it, you got two choices: You can either turn the Child, and his   
  
friends, over to us unharmed or we   
  
can take him back by force, turning this city into ashes in the process. The   
  
choice is yours. What will it be ?"  
  
Ca'el let the human simmer for a couple of minutes, letting Hubble think out all   
  
the possible disasters, which the   
  
Kimera could cause if their demands were not meet.  
  
Sometimes times your own imagination could be the biggest enemy you could ever   
  
have.  
  
Hubble started to sweat.  
  
Not only did the Kimera hold evidence against him, which would kill him   
  
politically, they also had the power of   
  
having history remember him as the cause of the biggest massacre this world had   
  
ever seen.  
  
But if he played it correctly, then maybe.....  
  
Hubble was about to answer, when a giant pillar of light could be seen emanating   
  
from where the Pentagon was   
  
located, followed closely by the thundering sound of an enormous energy   
  
explosion.  
  
Ca'el lost control of his features for a second, as he felt the massive   
  
powersurge with every cell of his body.  
  
By the Universe !!  
  
What had happened ?  
  
-------  
  
The Pentagon  
  
1 minute earlier.  
  
-------  
  
Sandoval, Street and Augur had abandoned the van, leaving Dr. Belman as the   
  
designated get-away-driver for   
  
now.  
  
They were slowly moving towards the nearest portal as soldiers wearing a   
  
strange, but absolutely American,   
  
uniform started to exit the portal, hitting the floor running and with panic   
  
written all over their faces, apparently   
  
running from some sort of danger.  
  
"I guess they found out about the powercore. "Augur stated dryly.  
  
Sandoval smirked at the obvious statement.   
  
"Guess so." He looked closely, desperately trying to see, if a certain 6feet   
  
something man with the most annoying   
  
attitude this side of, well everything, was amongst those, who exited the   
  
portal.   
  
He wasn't.  
  
Even as the crowd thinned, and one last man, laughing hysterical, was thrown out   
  
of the portal, Liam and Anr'el   
  
was still missing.  
  
And the Kimera hadn't notified them, that they had arrived through the portals   
  
on "Justice".  
  
But he had to be ok.  
  
He just had to.  
  
"Be alert, they may use this one for an exit." He ordered, not willing to leave   
  
just yet.  
  
Street took a nervous glance at the global in her hand.  
  
"Guys, we are cutting it kind of close, shouldn't we get out of here ?"  
  
"NO !I'm NOT leaving Liam behind !" Sandoval's cool mask, and his frail hold on   
  
his emotions, slipped, allowing   
  
his desperation to shine through.  
  
"Sandoval, they are probably aboard "Justice" by now ! And Liam's gonna need you   
  
!" Augur grabbed Sandoval's   
  
arm, forcing him to look at him. "There's no sense in getting yourself killed."  
  
And that's when the world exploded.  
  
-------  
  
The Complex  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
5 minutes earlier  
  
-------  
  
Bettis took a deep breath and started to think.  
  
OK, so their little ambush was blown.  
  
And these guys seemed like they didn't want trouble.  
  
"Keep an eye on them." He ordered in a whisper to the team behind him, as he   
  
slipped out from the shadow.  
  
Wasn't there something familiar about the 3, now that he was looking at them   
  
clearly.  
  
Without his glasses, things was kind of hazy.  
  
Then it hit him.  
  
"Liam ? Colonel ?" He quickly moved forward, startling the woman.  
  
"Easy, I got an itchy set of Shaqarava here !" Anr'el hissed, as a man moved out   
  
from a small sideentrance,   
  
supporting her statement by turning her palms towards the man and letting a   
  
slight shimmer appear.  
  
Then she recognised him.  
  
"Bettis ?"  
  
"That's my name. Don't wear it out." He had gotten close enough to recognise   
  
her.  
  
Although she had been kind of out of it the last time he had seen her.  
  
"You're Liam's kid, right ?"  
  
A slight smile crossed her lips as she deactivated her shaqarava.  
  
"Yes and no. I'll explain later. I am Anr'el." She quickly turned to her   
  
companions, raising her voice, so that they   
  
would hear. "It's friends."  
  
Liam let out a breath he didn't realise he had been holding.  
  
Good, finally something didn't go against them.  
  
Bettis waved to his men, signalling them that it was safe to stand down their   
  
guard.  
  
"We were actually looking for you." The teen said in a much to adult voice.   
  
"Liam wouldn't leave without you."  
  
Liam and Zeke slowly made their way towards the small groups.  
  
"Colonel !" Bettis gasped as the two men approached them.  
  
Liam hadn't been the only one tortured.   
  
And although the kid had somehow miraculously recovered, Zeke hadn't.  
  
"They didn't take the Kids word for granted and got a tad...upset..."Zeke forced   
  
a small smile.  
  
"Don't worry, it looks worse than it is. The most painful of it is healed,   
  
thanks to Liam Jr here..." He made a weak   
  
gesture towards Anr'el.  
  
"Why do you guys keep thinking, that Anr'el's my daughter ?"   
  
Liam's extremely confused face made Anr'el give out a small laugh.  
  
"Child, I'll explain later."  
  
Liam just nodded, sending her a "This better be good, 'cause I'm not letting you   
  
of the hook" look.  
  
Bettis noticed the small exchange between them.   
  
Child ?  
  
There WAS a story in here somewhere.  
  
And it seemed to get better by the second.  
  
But right now..  
  
"We need to get out." He stated, the men from the ODK moving over to take on the   
  
burden of their hurt   
  
commander from Liam's shoulder.  
  
"This way..." Bettis led the way, the colonel and his support in the middle and   
  
Liam, Anr'el and the last ODK man   
  
covering the back.  
  
And soon after, they were at the top floor.  
  
They had meet surprisingly little resistance.  
  
And now they knew why.  
  
The floor seemed to crawl with soldiers.  
  
The Bastard had seemingly figured their little gig out.  
  
Bettis grinned.  
  
Well, he still had one little surprise for them.  
  
He glanced at his global.  
  
And blanched.  
  
Bloody hell.  
  
Their luck had just run out.  
  
-------  
  
The Portals  
  
Topfloor of the Complex  
  
1 minute ago.  
  
-------  
  
The Man was satisfied with himself.  
  
Yes, this was going to be his salvation.  
  
There was only one way out.  
  
And every piece of military personnel in the Complex was guarding it.  
  
The Freak and his minions were not getting away anytime soon.  
  
A faint rumble was heard from somewhere beneath his feet and the floor seemed to   
  
shake slightly.  
  
What the hell ???  
  
He grabbed his global, accessing the local computersystem.  
  
No earthquakes was expected.  
  
Something else caught his attention.  
  
"EVACUATE !" He bellowed, for once with panic in his voice, as he saw the   
  
warning flash across the computer   
  
screen.  
  
As the room emptied, a sudden thought crossed his mind, and his old, cold smile   
  
came back.  
  
When he, as the last, left the small portal station, he punched in one single   
  
command, laughing as he dissolved   
  
into nothingness.  
  
-------  
  
A corridor  
  
The Complex  
  
-------  
  
Bettis and Anr'el exchanged a glance as they saw the  
  
sudden panic in the room.  
  
Bettis simply shrugged.  
  
"Guess they found my little surprise." At Zeke's questioning glance, he   
  
continued: "I overloaded the powercore.   
  
Was a little to good at it as well." He handed the Colonel his global.  
  
Zeke cursed, then handed it to Liam.  
  
"We need to get out of here. Now."  
  
"If we wait until the room clears, we can use the portals. But we'll be cutting   
  
it kind of close. There'll be no time to   
  
reconfigure them." She said, noticing how the crowd thinned quickly.  
  
They spend a while in nervous anticipation.  
  
Then, as the last man, the Bastard himself, disappeared, they quickly ran   
  
towards the portal.  
  
And discovered, why he had been laughing.  
  
He had activated the portal self-destruct mechanism.  
  
And they had no time to stop it.  
  
A sudden quake, stronger than the last, could be felt in the hard concrete of   
  
the floor.  
  
"It's all my fault.. All my fault.." Liam almost inaudioble voice caught   
  
Anr'el's attention.  
  
And a determination unlike anything else she had ever felt before crystallised   
  
within her.  
  
She would get them out.  
  
Somehow....  
  
"It's not over yet, Liam."  
  
She searched the room frantically for an alternate escaperoute or some sort of   
  
cover, finding none.  
  
And she could literally feel the many megatons of energy getting ready to   
  
explode beneath their feet.  
  
Energy ?  
  
But of cause.  
  
"Quickly, everyone into that corner, behind me !" She ordered, taking her stand   
  
in front of the small group with   
  
her back to them, no longer caring to keep up her human front.  
  
Another quake, much more powerful than the others were felt, and all Bettis   
  
could think off, as a wall of white-  
  
blue energy seemed to explode out of the doorway they had only moments before   
  
occupied, was:  
  
"God, this better work."  
  
She felt like she was being boiled alive.  
  
Agony more intense than anything else, she had ever felt before slammed through   
  
her body as the wildfire energy   
  
of the overloaded ID-core reached her.  
  
But she had to hang in there.  
  
For the Colonel.  
  
The ODK team.  
  
But most of all for Liam.  
  
The Child.  
  
That one thought kept here going as wave after wave of raw energy send white-hot   
  
pain up her arms through her   
  
shaqarava.  
  
She had to get him out of here alive.  
  
There was no other acceptable option.  
  
Then the world ceased to exist as her mind closed around that one thought:  
  
To keep the Child safe behind the makeshift shield of her hands and the concrete   
  
walls behind them.  
  
And the rest was pain.  
  
Liam was starring in awe at his newest friend.  
  
It was amazing.  
  
She was using herself as a shield to keep everyone safe.  
  
It seemed as an eternity, but was actually only seconds, before the energystorm   
  
abated, leaving the complex a   
  
smouldering ruin of superheated concrete, vaporised equipment and glowing iron.  
  
The only light left was the sheer white glowing Anr'el, who sagged to the floor,   
  
desperately trying to control the   
  
overload of energy she had consumed.  
  
Bettis moved to help her, but was stopped by Liam's hand on his arm.  
  
"Don't. It would kill you if you touched her right now."  
  
Bettis shot a questioning glance at him, noticing the awed expression in his   
  
eyes.  
  
Liam shrugged, then slipped into his old mask, the mask of Liam Kincaid,   
  
Companion Protector and Resistance   
  
leader.  
  
He was still having a hard time just being himself when around others.  
  
"She's storing almost all the energy of the ID-core in her body." He carefully   
  
moved closer to the Alien, feeling the   
  
spillover of her pain in his mind.  
  
So much pain.  
  
"Imagine a lightning rod, you." He shot Bettis a look to make sure he was   
  
getting the picture. "Then there's the   
  
lightning, Anr'el. And then there's the ground, the Complex. If you touch her,   
  
there's the chance that a large part   
  
of the energy would slip past her control, using you as a conductor before   
  
getting released in floor. But unlike a   
  
lightning rod, you're not equipt for this kind of lightning."  
  
"How do you know this ?" Zeke was curious. He had been conscious long enough to   
  
catch the end of the   
  
conversation.  
  
Liam thought about it.  
  
How DID he know ?  
  
He shrugged again.  
  
"I just do."  
  
Bettis contemplated it for a couple of seconds, then pushed the questions this   
  
comment raised out of his mind for   
  
now.  
  
There would be time later.  
  
The sound of explosions and crumpling walls from somewhere below them brought   
  
him back to reality.  
  
"We need a way out. Now."  
  
Anr'el was vaguely aware of the voices behind her as she fought for control.  
  
Her system had been pushed to the limit this time.  
  
She needed an outlet for all this energy.  
  
Pain making it hard to think, she faintly caught part of a sentence.  
  
"..need a way out..."   
  
A sudden thought had her raising her hands over her head, shaqarava against the   
  
ceiling.  
  
A blinding light penetrated the deep darkness of the room as a pillar of light   
  
burned it's way through concrete, dirt   
  
and steel, creating a small, steep tunnel towards the world above.  
  
Then, spend and more tired than ever before, she collapsed completely to the   
  
floor, her head hitting it with a soft   
  
thud.  
  
Liam rushed to her side, propping her up against his shoulder, anxiety clearly   
  
written all over his features.  
  
"Anr'el ? You ok ?" His voice converged so much fear, that Zeke and Bettis just   
  
looked at eachother.  
  
They were getting more and more interested in the story behind this by the   
  
second.  
  
She forced a small smile.  
  
"Didn't anyone mention needing a way out ?".  
  
Despite the situation, Liam couldn't help himself.  
  
He laughed.  
  
-------  
  
The Pentagon  
  
Now  
  
-------  
  
Sandoval was one lucky SOB, Augur mused.  
  
One more inch in the wrong direction, and he would have been vaporised instead   
  
of just loosing a couple of inches   
  
of hair and having his suit ruined.  
  
And being deeply unconscious.  
  
But except from that and some minor scrapes from falling debris, he was, as far   
  
as Augur could tell, OK.  
  
Street broke his thoughts.  
  
"Shouldn't we be getting out of here ?" Her face carried the shell-shocked   
  
expression, Augur had seen on the face   
  
of resistancefighters when a cell had been run over.  
  
But at least she was getting over it on her own.  
  
"Yeah..." Something about the blast made him hesitate.  
  
First of all, it had been late.  
  
According to the readings on the global in his hand, almost a minute later than   
  
the actual explosion of the ID-core   
  
or whatever had exploded down there.  
  
And it had been much to focused, almost like a laserbeam.  
  
If the explosion itself had been the cause, this entire building, and a couple   
  
of hundred blocks surrounding it,   
  
would have been ashes.  
  
If even that.  
  
"I wonder..." He moved over to the hole in the ground, punching in a couple of   
  
commands in his Global.  
  
He was right.  
  
He spun around.  
  
"Street, get Dr. Belman and a rope. A LONG one.  
  
There's lifesigns down there !" His voice carried a tone of command, which   
  
Street had never heard before. She   
  
didn't hesitate.  
  
Augur went back to anxiously watching the pitch-black hole, silently hoping   
  
against hope, that his "baby" brother   
  
and his friends had survived the living hell down there.  
  
------  
  
The White House  
  
Capitol Hill  
  
------  
  
Ca'el closed his eyes, unaware of the tender smile, which for a split second   
  
slipped past his "Commander of the   
  
Kimeran Warfleet" mask.  
  
Thank the Universe !  
  
The Commander was OK.   
  
And so was the Child.  
  
But, as Anr'el had put it, they were in need of a little assistance.  
  
He quickly issued a series of commands through the Commonality, rerouting a   
  
couple of closeby squads to the   
  
building called The Pentagon.  
  
No need in taking any chances, eventhough Anr'el felt, that the soldiers in the   
  
area would pose no threat, being in   
  
panic and without a leader as they were.  
  
And, protocol be damned, he was going to be there as well.  
  
Urich had watched the Alien, Ca'el, intently.  
  
And he saw that tender smile, mistaking it for a sign of weakness.  
  
Maybe these freaks wasn't as bada** as they posed.  
  
He had been up against that kind of people before.  
  
Yes...He was certain, that all of this was just a ruse.  
  
He carefully schooled his features to not let the elevation, which he felt,   
  
show.  
  
A plan took shape.  
  
If he gave these Aliens what they wanted, they would leave.  
  
He could then use them as an excuse to come across like the big hero, the   
  
saviour of the planet, making the public   
  
conviniently "forget" that he caused the entire thing by having that Freak   
  
Kincaid tortured.  
  
After all, in 100 days, everything is forgotten.  
  
Ca'el's first words, as he returned to the real world, however, destroyed   
  
Hubble's hopes completely.  
  
"It looks as if I no longer have any need for you." Ca'el allowed a satisfied   
  
smirk to show. "My Commander, the   
  
real Commander of the Fleet, just informed me, that she, the Child Liam and his   
  
friends are safe after successfully   
  
escaping the complex, in which you had them imprisoned."  
  
He pulled out the portable datastream again, punching in a couple of commands.   
  
"And the public really deserve to   
  
know about your little games. So I guess it's only fair, that I just transmitted   
  
the recording of you and your   
  
henchman over the global news net."  
  
Even the Kimera could be cruel.  
  
Urich went grey in the face, never noticing the Kimera leaving for his shuttle.  
  
No.  
  
This couldn't be happening.  
  
All his plans, his dreams.  
  
Ashes.  
  
Gone like a fata morgana in the sun.  
  
The public would not be merciful.  
  
He had gambled high, convinced that the stakes were low.  
  
Liam was alone, defenceless, alien.  
  
Easy prey.  
  
Easily forgotten.  
  
Or so he had thought.  
  
He had done the cardinal sin.  
  
He had been caught.  
  
Urich slowly opened a drawer, pulling out a fully loaded Desert Eagle from it's   
  
hiding place.  
  
And as Ca'el's shuttle entered ID-space, a single shot echoed through the once   
  
proud halls of the White house.  
  
Hubble Urich was no more.  
  
No one touches the Children of the Kimera unpunished. 


	7. 7

------  
  
A tunnel  
  
Beneath the Pentagon  
  
------  
  
Liam, climbing first in the very steep, very slippery, and still somewhat hot,   
  
tunnel, instinctively braced himself   
  
against the walls, using his knees and back to keep him in place in the narrow   
  
space, as something hit him in the   
  
head from above.   
  
It didn't feel like a stone or anything like that.  
  
Besides, the walls of the tunnels was melted solid, making such an occurrence   
  
impossible.  
  
He used his hands to examine the object more closely.  
  
A rope ?  
  
He was gripping for his blaster before remembering, that he no longer carried   
  
one.  
  
But old habits die hard.  
  
And whomever was coming down could be an enemy.  
  
A harsh, white light hit him in the face as he looked up, making him protect his   
  
eyes with one of his hands.  
  
He had been in the dark for much to long.  
  
"Hey Kid, need a hand ?" Augur grinned as he saw the suprised look on Liam's   
  
face.   
  
Being a man and all, Augur couldn't allow himself to vocally express the relief,   
  
that he felt, when he looked down   
  
and saw Liam's face appearing out of the dark.  
  
But it showed in his eyes.  
  
Liam just grinned.  
  
"Augur, I owe you a new part for your computer !"   
  
"Everything ok down there ?"  
  
"Yeah, but Zeke's hurt. Badly."   
  
Augur cursed silently.  
  
"And you ? As I understand it, things were kind of intense for you a while   
  
there."   
  
Augurs question made Liam flinch.  
  
Until this second he had managed to keep the memories of his torture stowed away   
  
in the back of his mind.  
  
He pulled himself together, once more slipping into the accustomed role of the   
  
strong resistance fighter.  
  
"It's ok, I'm healed completely. Tell you about it later, OK ?" He forced a   
  
smile onto his face, trying to look strong.   
  
"Let's just get out of here. The walls are kind of closing in on me."  
  
Augur just nodded.   
  
He had seen the pain in the kids eyes and knew, that right now, the Kid was only   
  
trying to give them what they   
  
wanted to see.  
  
Liam would have to deal with everything done to him at some point, but right now   
  
he needed to show that he was   
  
in control of the situation.  
  
And Augur let him.  
  
With the help of the rope, it didn't take that long before the entire group was   
  
standing in the ruined fronthall of the   
  
Pentagon, tired, but happy to see daylight again.  
  
A dozen or more Kimera had turned up, making sure, that they were safe.  
  
Even Sandoval had awakened, refusing to leave after Juliana had forbidden him to   
  
go down the tunnel with Augur.  
  
She sighed.  
  
Men.  
  
Some times they could be so God damned STUBBORN !.  
  
But she had allowed him this little victory, knowing how he felt.  
  
Juliana herself didn't want to leave before seeing, that Liam was OK and safe   
  
again.  
  
When the relatively unscathed Liam had emerged from the tunnel, closely followed   
  
by a more than tired Anr'el and   
  
a Colonel Kincaid looking worse than anything she had seen before, her relief   
  
had been almost tangible.  
  
He was safe.  
  
Then the Full-blown Motherhen mode set in.  
  
"Liam, if you EVER put us through ANYTHING like this again, I'm gonna kill you   
  
myself !" She looked at him   
  
sternly, poking her finger in his chest at every word, then gave him a tight   
  
embrace and whispered in his ear "Glad   
  
to see, that you are ok."  
  
The startled Liam first went rigid with surprise, but then returned the hug in   
  
full.   
  
Things were going to be all right now.  
  
His eyes went suspiciously blank as he looked as his adopted "family".   
  
They had come for him.  
  
Even Sandoval.  
  
He closed his eyes and allowed himself to enjoy the moment.  
  
-------  
  
20 metres away  
  
Behind a pillar.  
  
-------  
  
So the freak had survived.  
  
And he had been right.  
  
There had been something weird about that energybeam.  
  
Well, the Freak wouldn't be a problem much longer.  
  
Slowly The Man raised his weapon, catching Liam's back in the crosshair.  
  
No, THAT problem would soon cease to exist.  
  
And he would have his vengeance.  
  
As the sound of a shuttle exiting ID-space was heard, his finger slowly   
  
tightened on the trigger.  
  
The sound of the shot rang out like a bell of doom in the ruined hall.  
  
Juliana staggered backwards as Liam suddenly went first rigid, then deathly limp   
  
in her arms, his face having an   
  
expression of profound surprise on it.  
  
As she released one of her hands to get a better hold of him, she noticed   
  
something hot and sticky on it.  
  
As she raised it, to her horror, it was covered in blood.  
  
Anr'el screamed in agony and loss.  
  
The Child's voice in her head had suddenly gone silent.  
  
She noticed a movement not 20 meters away.   
  
A man with a gun.  
  
"GET HIM !!!" Her voice was filled with an anger, a rage unlike anything Augur   
  
had ever heard before.   
  
An anger matched by every Kimera, which were here.  
  
The Man would not get away.  
  
Not this time.  
  
But the Kimera wasn't the only ones angry.  
  
Sandoval moved to his feet, injuries forgotten as he ran to the side of his son.  
  
"He's dead." Juliana whispered shocked. "Sandoval, he's really dead this   
  
time....."  
  
A scream of utter denial made it past Sandovals lips.  
  
Not now.  
  
Please....  
  
Not now !  
  
But the lack of a pulse in Liam's throat made it reality.  
  
And Sandoval could only think of one thing to do:  
  
He grabbed a pulserifle from one of the ODK people and went hunting...  
  
And every ODK soldier, as well as Augur and Street, joined him.  
  
The Bastard would not get away.   
  
He would pay.  
  
Dearly.  
  
In the now deserted fronthall of the Pentagon, two figures, one glowing with a   
  
greenish light and one cradling a   
  
dead body in her hands, were sitting together in their mutual, silent grief.  
  
They had been so close to getting him to safety.  
  
Anr'el refused to believe it.   
  
This couldn't be true.  
  
Flashes from the war, another child, another planet, came back to her.  
  
A faint flicker, butterfly soft, in her mind made her catch her breath.  
  
It couldn't be....  
  
It was.  
  
But how, he was dead.  
  
Then she remembered.  
  
The plane of passage.  
  
Sha'hariath  
  
It was not to late yet, but she would need help.  
  
Lots of it.  
  
She went into the deep link with the Commonality.  
  
------  
  
Cairo  
  
Egypt  
  
------  
  
A watersalesman dropped the still-precious liquid in his hands, when a customer   
  
suddenly started glowing green,   
  
floating into the air until he was finally suspended 6 feet of the ground.  
  
The salesman ran away screaming.  
  
------  
  
Copenhagen  
  
Former Taelon Embassy  
  
------  
  
The former resistance leader from region Scandinavia, Erik Nelson, could barely   
  
hold back a gasp, as the young   
  
woman he was showing around the place, suddenly lost all resemblance with a   
  
human, floating off the ground   
  
while starting to glow.  
  
"How beautiful" he was all he could think as a ray of light shot out from her   
  
hands, connecting with other rays   
  
from all over the city like the web of a spider.  
  
All over the world, scenes like these replayed themselves as every Kimera on the   
  
planet connected in an effort to   
  
save the Child from the Void, covering the globe with a greenglowing web of   
  
immense proportions.  
  
And they weren't alone.  
  
In the ships orbiting Earth, from the sentient ships themselves, from the   
  
planets far away and crossing time and   
  
space, the web was reinforced as every Kimera in existence joined in with   
  
everything they had, sending every   
  
ounce of energy they could into one focal point.  
  
The focalpoint Anr'el.  
  
Juliana stared in awe, as Anr'el took in the energy, floating upwards and taking   
  
Liam's limp body with her.  
  
She had no idea, what was going on, but for some reason she wasn't as terrified   
  
as one should have believed.  
  
It was simply to beautiful.  
  
Anr'el felt her mind slipping from the physical world of life into the half-life   
  
of the Sha'hariath.  
  
The cords of energy gave her the strength to go in, but only one could perform   
  
the miracle of bringing Liam back   
  
from the dead.  
  
And that was Liam himself.  
  
She began her search.  
  
------  
  
A few blocks away  
  
------  
  
Sandoval had no eyes for the beautiful spectacle in the skies.  
  
His son was gone, and this bastard would pay.  
  
Using every piece of knowledge he had learned from his many years of service   
  
both in the FBI and later as a   
  
Companion agent cum undercover ODK spy, he managed to track down the Bastard in   
  
an alley.  
  
Neither he, nor the rest of the humans in the little hunting band, noticed how   
  
the Kimera suddenly stopped dead in   
  
their tracks, floating upwards.  
  
The humans wanted revenge.  
  
The Man was hiding behind a trashcan as Sandoval and the rest caught up to him.  
  
He wanted to sell his life dearly.  
  
He started firing.  
  
------  
  
The Sha'hariath  
  
------  
  
He had been here before.  
  
First during the sleepers incident.  
  
The with the Dark Matter.  
  
Nirvana, he had once called this place.  
  
But the Kimeran word was more correct.  
  
Sha'hariath.  
  
The Plane of Passage.  
  
In other words, he was dead.  
  
Once again.  
  
And this time, he didn't believe, that some miracle was going to bring him back.   
  
So peaceful here.  
  
So unlike the world of the living.  
  
"Liam ?"   
  
He turned towards the male voice.  
  
"Father."  
  
And there he was, the cause of all his pain, and yet also the cause of all the   
  
joy he had ever felt in life.  
  
"It is time to go, child."  
  
Hag'el stretched out his hands towards Liam.  
  
Liam hesitated.  
  
Was this really the right thing to do ?  
  
Then slowly he reached out his own hands.  
  
As he was about to clasp his hands into those of his fathers, a voice boomed out   
  
from behind him.  
  
"STOP !".  
  
Anr'el had arrived.  
  
Liam froze up, his hands hovering less than an inch over Hag'els.  
  
"Liam, please..." Anr'els voice held a slightly desperate note, mixed with   
  
something else..  
  
Fear ?  
  
"Do not leave. Not yet." She moved closer, while she spoke, ending up standing   
  
next to him with a hand at his   
  
arm. "Please..."  
  
He had only known her for a short time, but he was fairly certain, that begging   
  
was not something she did often.  
  
He started to pull his hands back again, slowly, even more uncertain now, if he   
  
was making the right choice.  
  
Hag'el spoke up.  
  
"Liam, what's out there for you ? Pain, loneliness, a world that hates you.."  
  
Anr'el broke into the narrative. "People still to meet, multiple worlds that   
  
wants you no matter what, friends,   
  
family. Pain ? Yes, but also pleasure, joy and caring. Everything comes with a   
  
price, Liam. The question is, do you   
  
want to run or do you want to face the difficulties up front ?"  
  
Hag'el started to look angry.  
  
He was loosing ground and he didn't like it one bit.  
  
"I am his FATHER ! I know best, what Liam needs, and he does not need anymore   
  
pain !"  
  
"Father ?!"  
  
Anr'el gave a small snort.   
  
"Liam, consider where you are. This is the Planes of Passage, Sha'hariath. In   
  
here, there's only you, me and the   
  
parts of your own mind, you have still to conquer. This is not Hag'el speaking,   
  
this is your fear and longings, your   
  
unresolved issues."  
  
Liam started at the words, so similar to what he had once told Augur during the   
  
Sleepers incident.  
  
She was right.  
  
But so was "Hag'el".  
  
Now what to do ?  
  
-------  
  
The Pentagon.  
  
-------  
  
Juliana could only watch the two floating figures high above her head, amazed at   
  
the sight.  
  
But what good could it do, Liam was dead.  
  
She vaguely wondered, if this was some sort of Kimeran burial rite.  
  
The green/gold cocoon of light surrounding the two suddenly increased   
  
dramatically in brilliance and she had to   
  
cover her eyes to avoid getting blinded.  
  
------  
  
The Alley.  
  
------  
  
They finally had him right were they wanted him.   
  
The Man had run out of charges, and now had to resort to hand-to-hand combat in   
  
order to protect himself.  
  
He cursed the bad luck, which had him turn right and end up in this dead end.  
  
Sandoval was the first to reach him, banging him up against the wall, pushing   
  
his chin up with the barrel of the   
  
pulseriffle.  
  
The rest panned out behind him in a semicircle.  
  
"Now, you pay..." he sneered, wanting this bastard to beg for mercy, to...  
  
Sandoval couldn't put words on the pain he wanted to inflict on this man,   
  
knowing, that it would probably cost   
  
him the last speck of good in his soul, but not caring.  
  
He had nothing left in this world anyway.  
  
Liam was dead.  
  
The Man let out a cold laugh.  
  
"What's it to you, Sandoval, hmm ? What, you had some sort of weird thing going   
  
on with the Freak ? Was he   
  
good in bed or something ?"   
  
He was goading Sandoval to end it quick.   
  
The Man didn't want to give Sandoval the satisfaction of being weak.  
  
Sandoval's face was a study in rage.  
  
"The "Freak" as you call him, that young man who gave more for this world than   
  
anyone else, was MY SON !!"   
  
Sandovals finger tightened on the trigger.  
  
"Don't !!" A voice said from the mound of the alley.  
  
Sandoval blanched, the turned his head to look at the newcomer.  
  
So did the Man.  
  
Liam spoke again.  
  
"Don't allow him to taint your hands with his blood."  
  
Liam moved closer, carefully, slowly and supported by Juliana and Anr'el on both   
  
sides.  
  
His body was aching.  
  
Again.  
  
He needed rest desperately.  
  
But he had to stop this before Sandoval did something he would later pay a heavy   
  
price for.  
  
He was just grateful, that he had come to so quickly.  
  
And that no one had thought about using the Van in their hunt for The Man.  
  
He had located Sandoval and the others just in the nick of time.  
  
He just hoped he didn't have to experience Dr. Belmans driving skills again   
  
anytime soon.  
  
"You're alive !"  
  
Sandoval let go of the Bastard, hardly believing his eyes.  
  
The pulserifle dropped unnoticed to the ground as he ran over to Liam, hugging   
  
him fiercely to make sure that he   
  
was still alive.  
  
"YOU'RE ALIVE !"  
  
Sandoval was soon joined by Augur and Street.  
  
Zeke simply watched with a small smile on his face.  
  
He should have known, that the Kid didn't wouldn't go away without a fight.  
  
Giving the small, makeshift family some privacy, he turned to the prisoner.  
  
"Now, what to do with you....."  
  
A cold, calculating smile grew on the Colonels face, spreading to the rest of   
  
the ODK members behind him.  
  
They had a little bill of their own to outbalance with this one.  
  
And the Man's eyes widened in fear.  
  
-------  
  
Kimeran Mastship "Justice"  
  
Hovering above the White House.  
  
-------  
  
Liam had gone to bed quickly after the healers had looked him over and released   
  
him to his quarters, saying that   
  
nothing was wrong with him, that a good nights sleep couldn't cure.  
  
He had cleaned up, then spend an hour just looking at his quarters, studying the   
  
intricate patterns of blue and   
  
purple on the walls intently or letting his fingers run along the bioslurry of   
  
the grown table, sensing the strange   
  
intelligence, the living ship harboured.  
  
So different from the Taelon mothership.  
  
And yet so similar.  
  
It was a big room, cosy, with a large virtual glass window on one side.  
  
The bed, a large platform stuffed with a multitude of pillows and blankets, was   
  
suprisingly comfortable.  
  
He realised, that something was poking him in the back.  
  
When he saw what it was, he blushed profoundly.  
  
Someone had placed a large teddybear in his bed.  
  
Embarrassing.  
  
What did they think he was, a kid ?  
  
Then he realised, that it was exactly what he was.  
  
A child.  
  
And with that realisation the last remnants of Liam Kincaid, Companion Protector   
  
and Leader of the Resistance,   
  
splintered like glass, leaving Liam Hag'el-Sandoval-Beckett, beloved Child of   
  
the Kimera.  
  
A single tear slowly made it's way down his face as he studied the teddy.  
  
Liam had paid a high price for his freedom, but finally he was home.  
  
And with the soothing lullaby of the Commonality in his mind, he soon fell   
  
asleep, completely relaxed for the first   
  
time in his short life, with the stuffed bear tightly clutched in his arms.  
  
The ship, sensing him asleep, adjusted the virtual glass to a darker tone,   
  
slowly blacking out the stars and   
  
streetlight.  
  
Neither Liam nor the Ship nor anyone else, noticed the blue spectre which   
  
appeared shortly next to the bed,   
  
making a gesture of goodbye.  
  
Da'an had found his peace too, now that he knew Liam to be safe.  
  
"Be well, child." He whispered in Eunoia, his voice lingering for a second after   
  
he disappeared.  
  
Liam stirred slightly, then sank deeper into sleep.  
  
And for the rest of the night, no one disturbed Liam's dreams any further.  
  
-------  
  
The Bridge  
  
Kimeran Mastship "Justice"  
  
Hovering the White House.  
  
-------  
  
While Liam was sleeping, Anr'el and Ca'el was in a meeting with the Ruling   
  
Council at Kimera Prime, using the   
  
Commonality.  
  
The maininstigators had all been caught or killed, the last one the Man, whose   
  
real name was Adam King, who   
  
was shot by Colonel Kincaid while trying to escape during transport.  
  
No one questioned the Colonel, eventhough Anr'el had her suspicions about the   
  
explanation.   
  
It didn't cover the multiple lacerations and bruises the body had.  
  
But who cared.  
  
Liam was safe.  
  
But there was still the question on how to punish the rest of the population of   
  
Earth.  
  
They too carried their part of the blame on this incident.  
  
"According to the old rules, they shall die for their crimes."  
  
"I know, but they are still a young race, almost children. If the Taelons hadn't   
  
treated them the way they did, things   
  
would perhaps have been different."  
  
"Yes. But still, they must be punished. And what's done is done."  
  
"If we were to kill them, Liam would never forgive himself. He would feel guilty   
  
for causing so much destruction.   
  
He has a very soft heart and this could prove to strain it to much."  
  
"We know. We too know the Child's mind. That is why we are giving you 48 earth   
  
hours to come up with an   
  
alternative punishment for this planet."  
  
They left the link.  
  
48 hours to come up with an alternative to massdestruction.  
  
Not a long time.  
  
Not a long time indeed.  
  
-------  
  
Main conferenceroom  
  
Aboard "Justice"  
  
8 hours later  
  
-------  
  
This was not gonna be easy.  
  
She knew it going in.  
  
They were all there:  
  
Augur, Street, Dr. Belman, the Colonel and his men. Her Kimeran commandstaff.  
  
Everyone except Liam.  
  
He was still asleep.  
  
And she didn't want him in here during the meeting anyway.  
  
What they was about to discuss would only put a very not-needed strain on a   
  
psyche still only in the start of healing   
  
from all the pain he had been dealt in his short life.  
  
The room was simple: A set of chairs in a circle around a big datastream.  
  
Nothing else was needed.  
  
She sat down, painfully aware, that every set of eyes in the room was on her.  
  
The Kimera was already aware of what she was going to say here, having been   
  
notified as the meeting with the   
  
Council had ended 8 hours earlier, but she dreaded for the reaction of the   
  
humans.  
  
It would be severe.  
  
She took a deep, unnecessary breath, and started.  
  
"8 hours ago, Ca'el and I was in a meeting with the Ruling Council of Kimera   
  
Prime. We were discussing the   
  
proper punishment of the people, either directly or indirectly, involved in   
  
hurting Liam." She braced herself, then   
  
continued.  
  
"After our old laws anyone.." She send Sandoval a pointed look "Who hurts one of   
  
our children, or help hurting it   
  
in some way, must die.  
  
This may sound barbaric for such an advanced civilisation such as ours, or even   
  
for one as lowly advanced as the   
  
humans, but please remember, that these laws were written during the Taelon-  
  
Kimeran war, were not one day went   
  
by without hundreds of our Children either being hunted down, killed or tortured   
  
in gruesome experiments by the   
  
Taelons." She shuddered in all to well remembered pain. "And each one of those   
  
pains, those deaths, were felt like   
  
our own through the link."   
  
She managed to gain control of her emotions again.  
  
"We swore, that nothing like that would ever go unpunished again." Her voice   
  
grew cold.  
  
"But it did. Here."  
  
Sandoval spoke up.   
  
"I will take any kind of punishment, the Council wishes to condemn me to. I just   
  
wish for a chance to say goodbye   
  
to my son."  
  
He meet her gaze evenly, eventhough his CVI drenched his brain with rather   
  
forgotten images of the pain, he   
  
himself had put Liam through. But he had decided long time ago not to run from   
  
justice, when his time came.  
  
Anr'el forced a small smile.  
  
"I would expect nothing else. But both the Council and I agree on one thing: It   
  
is not a wise thing to rob the Child   
  
of his last remaining parent while his mind is in such a fragile state as now.   
  
When the time comes, we will try to   
  
find an alternative. And we have a much bigger dilemma right now."  
  
She waved her hand, bringing up a picture of Earth in the datastream.  
  
"The Council have found, that the population of Earth have also broken these old   
  
laws, when they turned on Liam   
  
and made him a victim of their racism. They have also been found guilty of   
  
indirectly helping Hubble Urich and   
  
his minions in their plans for Liam's kidnapping. The sentence for this is   
  
Death. Already now, the 3 orbiting   
  
planetdestroyers are powering up their weapons, ready to pay final judgement in   
  
a scale, which will leave Earth   
  
nothing more than a smouldering ruin, a cloud of dust orbiting the Sun. " She   
  
raised a hand to stop the protests,   
  
which she knew was coming.   
  
"However, we have been granted 48 hours to come up with an alternative. I have   
  
already tried, with my   
  
commandstaff, to come up with an alternative solution, so far to no avail. And   
  
that is why, I am now asking for   
  
your help in this."  
  
She leaned back, carefully studying the faces of the humans.  
  
They had all gone ghostlywhite.  
  
Augur, for some warped reason, could help thinking about a fair, he had once   
  
been to with his mom and dad.   
  
It had been springtime and he had been maybe 8.  
  
The candyfloss....It had tasted like nothing else and he could still remember   
  
the clear, blue sky and the sounds of   
  
the fair vividly.   
  
He had hoped to one day take his own children to one of these fairs.  
  
But now it looked like it would never happen.  
  
"You can't do that ! You just can't ! They didn't know !" Streets voice were   
  
choked, tear-filled.   
  
She didn't care much for the people, who had hurt Liam so badly, but to destroy   
  
an entire planet because of it ?  
  
Anr'el sighed heavily.   
  
"Street, isn't it an proverb of your planet, that "stupidity does not protect   
  
from punishment" ? We do not conceive   
  
children easily. And the few, we do get, we protect with everything we got."   
  
Anr'el got up again, suddenly feeling confined in the large room.  
  
"I do not expect you to understand. Any of you." She looked at them again,   
  
pausing slightly at each face to look   
  
them straight into their eyes.  
  
"Just know this, that no matter how much I would hate to do it, unless a   
  
suitable alternative can be thought of   
  
within the timelimit, I will order the destroyers to fire."  
  
Her left hand balled up tightly.  
  
"You will not speak of this to Liam. There is no need to put him under more   
  
pressure right now. If necessary, I will   
  
inform him myself."  
  
With that she swirled around, leaving the chamber and heading straight for the   
  
nearest portal.  
  
She needed to get out.   
  
Get some fresh air.  
  
Right now.  
  
Shifting into her latest human facade, that of Liam's "daughter", she headed   
  
towards the nearest park.  
  
She really hoped, that they would come up with something, where her own people,   
  
so filled with anger over Liam's   
  
pain, had failed.  
  
She really did.  
  
-------  
  
The Councilchamber  
  
"Justice"  
  
-------  
  
Juliana felt like exploding, as she let out a breath, she wasn't aware that she   
  
had been holding.  
  
Anr'el had just stormed out, obviously distraught by the idea of destroying an   
  
entire planet, but also ready to do it,   
  
unless something else came up.  
  
The other Kimera got up, slowly exiting the room, leaving the humans to their   
  
own thoughts.  
  
The silence was deafening.  
  
Zeke took spoke up as the first.  
  
"Well, that was..interesting.." His mind reeled with the thought, that the   
  
Kimera, a race he had come to associate   
  
through these trials, as a race of kind, highly evolved beings, could do   
  
something like this.  
  
"The question is, what do we do now ?" Bettis said, refusing to give into the   
  
shock he was feeling.  
  
"Or do we do anything at all ?"   
  
Everyone stared at Dr. Belman.   
  
That they hadn't expected to hear.  
  
She cleared her throat.  
  
"Well, think about it. It's not like humanity is innocent in this. They DID do   
  
the stuff, that the Council accused   
  
them of." She got up and went over to the window, staring out at the morning   
  
sky.   
  
"And, given the chance, I think they would do it again." She said thoughtfully,   
  
remembering the many stories from   
  
historiebooks, about massacres in the name of religion or deathcamps in the name   
  
of racial purity.   
  
"Do they, do WE deserve another chance ?"   
  
She turned again, looking at the others.  
  
They had the fate of an entire planet in their hands.  
  
"There's always hope." Augur raised his voice for the first time since this new   
  
nightmare began.  
  
"Not to long ago, a person of my skincolour could not be allowed into certain   
  
restaurants. But it changed. So can   
  
this." He sighed heavily. "But we'll never know, if we allow this to happen."  
  
Zeke, feeling a little like he was watching a tennis match, spoke up. " Then we   
  
better come up with an alternative,   
  
won't we ?"  
  
With that, they dispersed, agreeing to meet up after a couple of hours of   
  
brainstorming to bounce of ideas of   
  
eachother. 


	8. 8

-------  
  
Sandovals Quaters.  
  
Aboard "Justice"  
  
-------  
  
He leaned back on his bed, tired to the core eventhough he had slept plentifully   
  
during the night.  
  
His debilitating headache did nothing to help it either.  
  
He was starting to suspect, that his worst fears had come true, that his CVI was   
  
failing.  
  
And without the Taelons or Dr. Park around , it could not be replaced.  
  
The Taelons had taken that knowledge with them, when they left.  
  
But there had been none of the other telltale signs yet, the bleeding from the   
  
ears or the hallucinations.  
  
Maybe it was just stress.  
  
"Dad ?" Liam's low voice called from the entry portal.  
  
He didn't want to wake up his dad, but he had woken up, feeling an sudden urge   
  
to be with him, talk to him just   
  
because he could.  
  
Sandovals face lit up in a genuine smile as he agile got up from his boneless   
  
sprawl on the bed.  
  
"Liam !" he went over and gave him a warm hug, which Liam returned a little bit   
  
shyly.  
  
"Dad, I wondered.. I was going to see Mom's grave...." Liam hesitated, not   
  
really sure how to formulate it.  
  
" I was wondering, if you wanted to go with me..."  
  
A serious expression showed on Sandoval's face.  
  
"I would love to."  
  
Liam's face split in an ear to ear grin.   
  
"Great, I'll get an shuttle online.."  
  
"Eh, Liam ?"  
  
"Yeah ?"  
  
"You may want to get into some clothes first."  
  
Liam went beetred as he realised that he was still wearing his usual sleeping   
  
attire, tight sweats and no T-shirt.  
  
"Don't tell me, that I just went halfway through the ship looking like this ?"  
  
Sandoval couldn't hide his amusement any longer.  
  
"You did."  
  
Liam groaned.   
  
Well, at least Street hadn't been around to see.  
  
"Hi Liam, cool sweats..."  
  
What in the world had he done to the universe to deserve this ?   
  
Liam quickly disappeared in the direction of his own chambers, his face flushed   
  
with an interesting colour of red,   
  
before Street could make a smartalec remark, never noticing the look of intense   
  
worry in her eyes or the forced   
  
quality of her greeting.  
  
-------  
  
A Park  
  
Washington DC  
  
-------  
  
She had been here for hours, watching the children play, while the sky got   
  
darker.   
  
Time was running out.  
  
A small child approached her.  
  
"Hey lady ,why are you looking so sad ?"  
  
She smiled a little.  
  
Such innocence.  
  
"Well, " She crouched down to be on eyelevel with the small 7 year old girl.   
  
"You, I've got this problem. Some   
  
people, children really, have done something bad, and now I need to find a way   
  
of punishing them."  
  
"Can't you just ground them and take away their toys ?"  
  
"No, little one, it's a little more complex than that."   
  
"Jeannie, get away from the lady, don't bother her !" The child's mother rushed   
  
over, a little nervous about her   
  
offspring talking to a stranger.  
  
The kid was quickly whisked away in a nearby portal, one of her toys forgotten   
  
on the ground.  
  
"Take away there toys..." Anr'el smirked. If it was only that simple. She stared   
  
at the portal.   
  
Then inspiration struck.  
  
"From the mouth of children !"   
  
She quickly got up , leaving for the "Justice."  
  
This might just work, both for the Council and her human friends.  
  
-------  
  
Strandhill  
  
Ireland.  
  
-------  
  
The grave was small, almost to small to harbour the woman within, Sandoval   
  
mused.  
  
Kneeling next to it, Liam carefully placed a bucket of wildflowers on his   
  
mothers grave.  
  
She had loved wildflowers, he remembered, drawing on his inherited memories.  
  
And all the stores had been closed since the sound of a Kimera shuttle had been   
  
heard.   
  
Everyone was hiding in their houses.  
  
Anr'els strategy of intimidation had worked a little to well.  
  
Then he got up, turning to his dad.  
  
"You know ,she.." That was as far as he got, as the most terrifying thing he had   
  
ever seen in his life, got into his   
  
point of view.  
  
Sandoval saw the terror in Liam's face, as he stared intently on his dad's left   
  
ear.  
  
"What ? A bug or something ?"  
  
Then he felt it.   
  
A small tickle.  
  
He reached up.  
  
And when his hand came down again, it was stained with blood.  
  
Then the world went black.  
  
Liam managed to catch his dad before he hit the ground.  
  
His heart was beating wildly against his ribcage.  
  
No.  
  
Not again !  
  
He cursed every fate, every God in the universe, who were responsible for   
  
sending the Taelons in this direction.  
  
Sandovals Implant was burning out.  
  
And Liam did not know what to do.  
  
All he could do as his dad's CVI created a major brain haemorrhage, was   
  
screaming for help.  
  
-------  
  
Council Chamber  
  
Aboard "Justice"  
  
-------  
  
Augur was suprised.  
  
There was still a little more than 10 hours to go, but Anr'el had called them   
  
all together.  
  
The Kimera couldn't be pushing up the schedule, could they ?  
  
He exchanged worried looks with the rest, as Anr'el entered the room, throwing   
  
out orders left and right in   
  
Kimera.  
  
"Ah, good." She send them what she hoped was a reassuring look. "You are here.   
  
Where's Sandoval ?"  
  
"He and Liam went to Ireland to visit the grave of Liam's mother, Siobahn   
  
Beckett." Ca'el informed, looking much   
  
more relaxed than the last time, they had seen him.  
  
"OK, then someone will have to bring him up to speed, when they get back."  
  
Anr'el quickly sat down.  
  
"I have found a suitable solution on the problem with the punishment of Earth's   
  
population. One that I hope, you   
  
too will find satisfactory, as the Council have."  
  
"As long as it doesn't involve genocide, sure." Augur said, suddenly feeling a   
  
little bit more light-hearted than   
  
before.  
  
A feeling, which was quenched in the next second, as Anr'el suddenly lost all   
  
control of her human facade,   
  
grasping her head with both hands.  
  
"LIAM !"  
  
-------  
  
Strandhill  
  
Ireland  
  
-------  
  
An old couple had braved out of their house, when they heard the desperate cries   
  
for help.  
  
It came from the cemetery.  
  
As they got closer, they saw a tall man, on his knees, holding a smaller, Asian   
  
man unconsciously in his arms.  
  
"Isn't that..."  
  
"Yes, it's Sandoval. And that's Liam Kincaid."  
  
The elderly man grabbed his wife by the arm as she started to move towards them.  
  
"By the Fae, woman, stay here ! He's alien !"  
  
Fiona yanked her arm loose.  
  
"He also needs help. And he's a friend of our Siobahn."  
  
Determinedly she trotted over to the unlikely pair.  
  
"Major Kincaid ?"  
  
The hesitant voice of a woman yanked him out of the void, his mind had thrown   
  
him into.  
  
A pair of the most beautiful green-golden eyes, she had ever seen, turned to   
  
meet hers.  
  
There was so much pain in there.  
  
"Please..." It came out a whisper. "Please help him ! Please help my dad..."  
  
Dad ?  
  
Then she remembered all the tales from the news.  
  
About the Major only being a child really.  
  
And not a Major at all.  
  
"I'll do what I can. Why don't we call an ambulance ?" She send her husband a   
  
stern look, telling him, that he   
  
better get to a communications panel or else....  
  
And with 40+ years of experience with Fiona's temper, he decided to comply   
  
immediately.  
  
Liam felt something in his mind, a voice.  
  
"Child..."  
  
Anr'el.  
  
"Please, he's dying.."  
  
"Easy, child." She tried to dampen his panic.   
  
"I am here. This is what you must do.."  
  
Fiona started to worry.  
  
Kincaids eyes had taken on a distant quality, so radically far from the   
  
desperate worry, which he had been in   
  
before.  
  
Was he going into shock ?  
  
Slowly, like an automaton, he moved his hands, one to Sandovals head, and   
  
another one immediately over his   
  
heart.  
  
"Good, now activate your shaqarava, use your inner eyes, your mind, to locate   
  
the damage and heal it." Anr'els   
  
voice soothed in his mind.  
  
He tried.   
  
And failed.  
  
Then tried again.  
  
And failed.  
  
"WHY WON'T IT WORK ?"   
  
Liam's shout scared Fiona, so unexpected and loud.  
  
She backed up a few paces, just to be on the safe side.  
  
"shhhh, don't think, just do it.."  
  
This time Liam simply allowed his instincts to take charge....  
  
And this time, it worked.  
  
Fiona watched in astonishment as a blue-white light emanated from Kincaids   
  
hands, flowing into Sandoval's   
  
unconscious form.  
  
Liam could feel the damage in his fathers brain.  
  
And slowly, oh so slowly, he knitted the damaged tissue, bloodvessels and cells   
  
back together, not allowing himself   
  
to think about it, just doing it.  
  
The damage was terrifying, but he did it.  
  
There was only one thing left to do now.  
  
The CVI.  
  
He found the foreign tissues and alloys, which the CVI was made from, and   
  
removed them molecule by molecule.  
  
This thing would never hurt his father again.  
  
He was shivering, as he returned to the real world, utterly exhausted as he   
  
were.  
  
Only to look into the worried eyes of his father.  
  
"Liam ?"   
  
Sandoval sat up groggily.  
  
His headache was gone.  
  
Tears was streaking the his unhappy sons face.  
  
"What happened ?" he asked gently, carefully wrapping his arms around him.  
  
"Your CVI, it burned out...And I couldn't do anything."  
  
More tears threatened to fall.  
  
Sandoval hugged him tightly, slowly rubbing circles on his back.  
  
"It's ok, I'm ok now.."  
  
Fiona watched in amazement.  
  
Was this the dangerous alien, they had all been so scared of ?  
  
A child.  
  
She kicked herself mentally for actually thinking twice about those stories in   
  
the tabloids.  
  
Then she noticed at who's grave, they were standing.  
  
Siobahns.  
  
Siobahn, who had been the last to see the alien Hag'el alive.  
  
Siobahn, whom had disappeared for almost 2 days, when said alien had been   
  
killed.  
  
An alien who had left a child, maturing to an adult within hours of birth, if   
  
those stories could be trusted.  
  
A child, which were right now sobbing his eyes out in the arms of his last   
  
surviving parent.  
  
"Oh.My.God."  
  
Her legs gave out beneath her.  
  
The distant vail of the ambulance could already be heard, as Ambrose returned to   
  
the cemetery.  
  
He started to run, as he saw Fionas slumped body.  
  
"What did ya do to her ?" He glared angrily at Liam and Sandoval.  
  
"Oh, will you be quiet ! Help me up instead !" Fiona managed to say with a hint   
  
of her old fire as she fought her   
  
way out of the shock.  
  
As she got up, so did Liam and his father, Sandoval still a bit wobbly.  
  
Sandoval thought, that he should recognise the old couple from somewhere, but he   
  
couldn't remember.  
  
Couldn't remember ?  
  
"Liam, what did you do to my CVI ?" He asked gently, trying very hard not to   
  
scare the kid even more.   
  
Liam had had enough upheavals for one day.  
  
"I..I removed it..." His voice trailed off.   
  
Had he done something wrong ?  
  
Sandoval, sensing, that Liam uneasiness, gave a huge sigh.  
  
"Thank God ! I was really starting to get tired of that thing constantly   
  
reminding me of things better forgotten."   
  
A genuine smile was plastered all over his face.  
  
And it soon infected Liam as well.  
  
Sandoval turned to the old woman.  
  
"Sorry, Mam, but I can't help thinking I should know you from somewhere."   
  
He stretched out his hand.  
  
"I am Ronald Sandoval and this is Liam Hag'el-Sandoval.." He trailed of.   
  
That Siobahn had been Liam's mother was not common knowledge.  
  
"Beckett." Fiona finished for him.   
  
At Sandoval and Liam's stunned expressions, she grinned.  
  
"Well, I assume, that since our Siobahn was not married, you, young man, took   
  
her last name as your own." She   
  
smiled, then gently placed her hand on Liam's chin.  
  
"Funny. I never realised you have her eyes..."  
  
Ambrose looked like he had been suckerpunched.  
  
Kincaid ?  
  
Siobahns son ?  
  
Not possible.  
  
And yet, the look on Kincaids face, like someone backed in a corner, told him,   
  
that it was all truth.  
  
"Ambrose, pick up your jaw, you are looking silly." Fiona gave her husband a   
  
glare. "Now, why don't we all go to   
  
our place for a cup of coffee and talk this over."  
  
Liam looked varyly at the old woman.  
  
He wanted to, but what if they didn't want him.  
  
Fiona didn't look like someone, who would hurt him though.  
  
And she was his grandmother.  
  
At that moment, a Kimeran Shuttlecraft boomed out of ID-space right above their   
  
heads and landed just outside the   
  
cemetery.  
  
Anr'el jumped out of the craft almost before the virtual glass shield had been   
  
deactivated.  
  
"Liam, are you OK ?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine. And so is Sandoval." In a surprise gesture, he gave her a warm   
  
hug.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"It wasn't me. It was you." She put in a little distance between them and tapped   
  
him gently on his chest.   
  
"It all came from in here."  
  
Then she turned her attention to the strangers.  
  
"I am Anr'el of the Kimera. "  
  
"Fiona Beckett. And this is Ambrose."   
  
Anr'el quirked an eyebrow.   
  
Beckett ?  
  
"I'm Liam's grandmother."  
  
"ah, I see...Liam, we need to get back to the ship. Some things are about to go   
  
down, which could get nasty and I   
  
don't want you down here, when it hits."  
  
Sandoval looked at her sharply, an action, which did not go unnoticed.  
  
Anr'el gave a an almost invisible shake with her head.   
  
Not now.  
  
Liam shifted his eyes between Fiona and Anr'el.  
  
"Well...I would really like to stay here for a while...Talk to Fiona and find   
  
out about my mom, not from inherited   
  
memories, but from people who knew her...."  
  
"Why don't I go pick up some things, then we go to this ship of yours and we'll   
  
talk there ?" Fiona temporised, as   
  
she noticed, that Anr'el was about to protest.  
  
She, too, wanted to talk to this new grandson of hers.  
  
And this spaceship of theirs would be as good a place as anywhere.  
  
Liam looked questioning at Anr'el.  
  
"yes, why don't we do that." She caved in, no fight.  
  
Liam would be safe enough aboard the ship and this woman did not seem like   
  
someone who would hurt him.  
  
"Give me 5 minutes to pick up my stuff and I'll.."  
  
The medics burst in, looking very confused.  
  
"Dispatch told us, that there was an medical emergency ?"  
  
Sandoval, wearing his best companion agent mask, simply looked at them blankly.  
  
"Emergency ? Does any of us look like we may need help ?"   
  
And the day ended in a cascade of laughter.  
  
-------  
  
"Justice"  
  
Hovering above the White House  
  
-------  
  
Liam had spend a great time with his grandparents, even Ambrose had thawn after   
  
a while.  
  
Ambrose wasn't evil, just misinformed.  
  
Anr'el had a tender smile at her face.  
  
Liam was finally getting to know some of the things normal human children would   
  
do.  
  
Like getting terribly spoiled by his grandmother.  
  
Fiona had picked up a couple of photoalbums at her house, and had spend hours   
  
talking to the Child in his quarters   
  
about his mother, her childhood and all that stuff.  
  
The briefing with the humans on how to punish Earth had also gone quiet OK.  
  
They weren't completely satisfied, off cause, but they had agreed, that against   
  
massdestruction, this was the better   
  
option.  
  
Augur had even said yes to helping implementing the plan.  
  
It turned out, that one of his old tricks from the resistance could be used in   
  
the plan fairly easy.   
  
His little trick needed to be modified, since it had backfired the last time,   
  
but still.  
  
"Commander ?"  
  
It was Ca'el.  
  
"There is a woman here, a ms. Renee Palmer, who wishes to meet with you."  
  
Anr'el's eyes grew cold.  
  
Of cause.   
  
From everything she had heard about this woman, Palmer would try to make the   
  
best of this, somehow turn it into   
  
profit for herself.  
  
And the announcement hadn't been made yet, so Palmer had no way of knowing, that   
  
the Kimera would be leaving   
  
soon.   
  
"Have her wait on the Command bridge. I'll need to talk to Augur and the others   
  
first."  
  
"Yes Commander."  
  
"And Ca'el ?"  
  
"Yes ?"  
  
"No need to be polite."  
  
Ca'el grinned.   
  
They had all heard what had happened, when Augur went to Palmer for help.  
  
This was going to be fun.  
  
Anr'el picked up the spill over of Ca'els emotions.  
  
She would need to keep tabs on that one.  
  
Ca'el was starting to enjoy this way to much.  
  
Then she went to talk to Augur.  
  
It was payback time.  
  
-------  
  
The Bridge.  
  
"Justice"  
  
-------  
  
"Where is that Commander of yours ? I've been waiting for 30 minutes ! Doesn't   
  
she realise, who I am ?"   
  
Renee was furious.  
  
Her reception on the ship, when she had finally been allowed to portal up here,   
  
had been less than polite.  
  
She had only been spoken to when absolutely necessary and that Ca'el character   
  
had given her the cold shoulder.  
  
Even the Taelons had treated her with the respect, her position in society   
  
warranted.  
  
But not here.  
  
Ca'el was going to be in so much trouble, when she told his Commander about   
  
this.  
  
"Palmer."  
  
A cold female voice said from right behind her.  
  
Renee jumped a bit, an expression of fear shortly visible on her face before she   
  
plastered a big, fake smile on it.  
  
"You must be the Commander."  
  
Renee stretched out her hand to a handshake, but Anr'el simply ignored it.  
  
"You wished to speak with me ?"   
  
Anr'el moved over to sit in her commandchair, trying hard not to show her   
  
disgust openly.  
  
"Yes. Since you are undoubtedly going to be here for a very long time, I felt,   
  
that maybe we could find some   
  
common ground to work from.  
  
With we, I mean Doors International and the Kimera."  
  
Renee forced herself to look sincere.  
  
"I believe, that such a venture could prove beneficial for us both and would   
  
serve to bring our two people together."   
  
She changed her face into one of grief.   
  
"And now that my dear friend Liam is dead, perhaps I can also honour his memory   
  
by helping his people."  
  
"I am touched that you are so concerned about my memory, but I can assure you,   
  
that I'm quit alive."  
  
Renee spun around, then turned completely white.  
  
The entire gang was there.  
  
And so was a very much alive Liam.  
  
"But..But.."  
  
"Renee, you really should have listened to me." Augur couldn't hide his grin.  
  
Oh, this was sweet indeed.  
  
"Palmer." Anr'el spoke again and her voice was not pleasant.   
  
"I do not know, what you hoped to gain by coming here. But you will not get it.   
  
You refused to help one of our children, you are a xenophobe and a self-  
  
righteous bitch.   
  
I advise you to go home, throw one of your little parties and forget you ever   
  
heard the word "Kimera", for if you   
  
ever cross my path again, you will live to regret it.   
  
And that is a promise."  
  
Renee got angry.  
  
"I won't tolerate being threatened ! You will see, I have more power than   
  
anything you could imagine ! You will   
  
bitterly regret this ! I got rid of the Taelons and the Jaridians ! I will get   
  
rid of you to !"  
  
"You ? Got rid of the Taelons and the Jaridians ? That's rich !" Lillye said   
  
from a doorway.  
  
She, her Jaridian mate and their child had just arrived on a summons from the   
  
Kimera.  
  
"As far as I remember it, there were more than one person involved in kicking   
  
the Taelons out and the Jaridians ?   
  
The only reason they left was because of the old treaty with the Kimera and Liam   
  
being part Kimera.   
  
That was the reason they left.  
  
Not your halfbacked attempt to seduce the commander of the Jaridian Fleet."  
  
She moved over and bowed to Anr'el.  
  
"Commander, it is an honour to once more have the Kimera amongst us."  
  
"Do not bow to me. You have treated one of ours kindly and it will not be   
  
forgotten. It is the hope of the Council   
  
that you and your family will join us as ambassadors of the Jaridians when we   
  
reconnect our old ties."  
  
Lilly simply nodded, then moved over to Liam.  
  
"Well, how about giving an old friend a hug ?"  
  
Renee had had it and stormed over to the nearest portal.  
  
These bastards !  
  
Didn't they realise, who she was ?  
  
They would pay !  
  
In a flash of white-hot fury, she left the ship.  
  
-----  
  
Lilly's quarters  
  
aboard the "Justice"  
  
-------  
  
She could still remember the shock, which went through the Jaridian community   
  
when the Kimera repository had   
  
appeared at Jaridia.  
  
A smile appeared on her face with the Jaridian ridges, but still human features.  
  
The Jaridians had a long memory, and the help, which the Kimera had once served   
  
by saving them from a terrible   
  
disease, which had threatened to extinct them, had earned them the never-dying   
  
gratitude of the Jaridians through   
  
generations.  
  
If nothing else, they had honour.  
  
That the cure had also caused the split in the race which had created the   
  
Taelons, had only been a minor   
  
annoyance.  
  
But the Taelon hunt on the Kimera had not been.  
  
From what she had understood on the crashcourse in Jaridian history Vorjak had   
  
given her before departing for   
  
Earth, the Jaridians saw it as a failure on their part, that they hadn't been   
  
able to help the Kimera as they needed it.  
  
The plague, which had only just stopped haunting them back then, had left them   
  
weak and unable to stop the   
  
Taelons, almost not capable of keeping themselves safe either.  
  
That the Kimera had survived, was a miracle and a possibility for correcting   
  
their old mistakes, and thus restoring   
  
their honour, was now available.  
  
The Jaridian government had not been pleased, that the Kimera had asked for her   
  
presence, they would have   
  
preferred to send one of their own, but the message had been clear:  
  
The presence of Lilly Marquette, formerly of Earth now of Jaridia, was requested   
  
in important matters.  
  
The letter, which had been addressed to her, had only one sentence:  
  
Liam needs you.  
  
That had been enough for her.  
  
A slight sound from the crib with her daughter caught her attention.  
  
There was also the possibility, that the Kimera would be able to help with the   
  
problem concerning the metabolism   
  
and childbearing, that the Jaridians were having.  
  
She hoped so.  
  
The door chimed.  
  
It was Ca'el.  
  
"Forgive me the intrusion, Ambassador, but the Commander have called for a   
  
meeting and have requested your   
  
presence."  
  
"Lead the way."  
  
-------  
  
The Council Chamber  
  
"Justice"  
  
-------  
  
Again they were all there.  
  
Again it was about the punishment of Earth.  
  
But this time, there was a slight hope in the face of everyone, as Anr'el   
  
stopped speaking.  
  
This might work.  
  
"Does anyone have anything to say on this approach ?"  
  
Vorjak spoke up.  
  
"The Jaridians will be most happy in helping the Kimera monitor the planet. We   
  
too, see no reason in destroying   
  
this planet, eventhough they have brought this upon themselves after the ancient   
  
ways of the Kimera."  
  
Liam was still pale after the revelation of just how close the people of Earth   
  
had been to getting themselves killed.  
  
Because of him.  
  
All because of him.  
  
The dark void in his own mind, filled with demons and accusations, threatened to   
  
swallow him again.  
  
"Sh.."  
  
As usual, Anr'el had mentally picked up, that something was wrong and tried to   
  
soothe him.  
  
He closed his eyes and leaned back, listening in his mind.  
  
***  
  
"I'm not worth that kind of destruction."  
  
"Yes. Children are precious. YOU are precious. And if the Powers that Be on this   
  
world does not appreciate that,   
  
then they have no right to exist."  
  
A mental touch, feeling like a hand gently brushing away his hair from his   
  
forehead.  
  
"But I am but one person."  
  
"And thus also unique. There will be no one else like you. And that makes you   
  
worth the effort. Rest now, child.   
  
Everything will be well."  
  
***  
  
"Ca'el, open the comchannels for Earth. Override any form of communication,   
  
these people utilise. Use this room   
  
as a source."  
  
"Yes Commander."  
  
As the Datastream opened, signifying, that the connection was made, Anr'el   
  
dropped her human facade.  
  
"People of Earth, you have broken one of our most sacred laws.   
  
For this you must be punished.  
  
People of Earth, this is what the Kimeran High Council have decreed..."  
  
-------  
  
A Doors International Warehouse  
  
-------  
  
"We cannot allow these freaking ALIENS to control our lives !"   
  
Renee had worked herself up to a full-blown rant.  
  
Things were not going as anticipated.  
  
The former resistancemembers, she had rallied here, for some reason couldn't   
  
forget, that Liam had been one of   
  
them.  
  
Or maybe it was just battle fatigue.  
  
"Palmer, they haven't DONE anything yet !" Erik spoke up, tired of listening to   
  
this woman's constant tirade.  
  
"And what did you call what they did at Pentagon ? A peaceoffering ?" Renee was   
  
starting to hate the Dane.   
  
Why didn't he understand, that these freaks of nature was a threat ?  
  
"I call it a rescueattempt. And a very successful one at that." Erik flexed his   
  
arms to stay awake, eyeing the coffee-  
  
pot on the table greedily.   
  
Portals or no portals, there was still one hell of a timedifference between   
  
Washington DC and Copenhagen.  
  
He should, by all means, be in bed by now.  
  
No, better not touch the coffee.   
  
One never knew, what Renee had done with it.  
  
He had never really liked her and suspected her capable of everything if things   
  
didn't go her way.  
  
"We better switch on the news !" A German woman said, after having received a   
  
message on her global.  
  
Each and every one flicked their globals open.  
  
A stunning beautiful being was speaking.  
  
"People of Earth, you have broken one of our most sacred laws.   
  
For this you must be punished.  
  
People of Earth, this is what the Kimeran High Council have decreed:  
  
Your natural development as a species was hampered by the untimely arrival of   
  
the Taelons and their attempts to   
  
control your species.  
  
Your actions towards the Kimeran Child Liam can therefor partially be explained,   
  
but not excused.  
  
According to the old laws, laws older than the human species, there is only one   
  
punishment: Death.  
  
But since you are still, in many ways, children and still growing as a species,   
  
an alternative punishment have been   
  
found:  
  
You will be brought back to the level, you had BEFORE the Taelons interfered   
  
with your lives.  
  
Since we cannot erase the imprint of their presence, and your memories thereof,   
  
we will start by erasing the   
  
technological improvements, improvements you have not earned and are not mature   
  
enough to handle properly.  
  
This will be done by launching a variant of a virus once used by your own   
  
resistance.  
  
The virus, soon to be uploaded to the Washington DC Taelon Embassy, will infect   
  
every piece of equipment using   
  
taelontechnology, from the smallest chip all the way up to the moonbase, and   
  
will subsequently destroy it.  
  
You are given 24 hours to evacuate your personnel from the moonbase and move the   
  
people dependant on life-  
  
support to alternate systems, before the final collapse of the Taelon   
  
technology.  
  
Even the shuttles and portals will self-destruct at this point in time.  
  
The second part of your punishment will include seclusion.  
  
Earth will be put into quarantine until you have proven yourself worthy of   
  
access to the outer reaches of space.  
  
Any attempts to spacetravels before this, will result in the crafts in question   
  
being shot down.  
  
The Jaridians have agreed to leave part of their fleet together with a couple of   
  
Kimeran motherships to monitor   
  
your planet.  
  
You will be allowed to launch satellites as long as they are not manned and   
  
carries no weapons.  
  
You are not allowed to attempt communication with the Jaridian or Kimeran ships   
  
of any kind, neither as   
  
datastreams or person to person.  
  
These ships will also serve to protect you from any further interference from   
  
the Taelons, should this protection be   
  
necessary.  
  
As soon as the final arrangements for this punishment have been made, the   
  
remainder of the Kimeran Warfleet   
  
will take it's leave.  
  
I am Anr'el of the Kimera and you can consider yourself grounded."  
  
The connection flickered out.  
  
For the longest of times, there was a deathly silence in the warehouse, then an   
  
inhuman vail could be heard coming   
  
from Renee.  
  
"THOSE BASTARDS !"  
  
Her life, as she knew it with parties, fast cars, designer clothes and all the   
  
riches in the world, was over.  
  
Doors International was not geared to survive the downfall of Taelonbased   
  
technology.  
  
All their research had been centred around it.  
  
"THEY'LL PAY FOR THIS !"  
  
Erik decided right there and then, after seeing the seething, slowburning hatred   
  
slowly spreading across some of   
  
the faces of his "fellow" resistance fighters, to contact some of his old   
  
cellmembers, those he could trust 100%, and   
  
keep a sharp eye on things.  
  
The last thing they needed right now, was a bunch of vigilantes going berserk.  
  
-------  
  
Council Chamber  
  
"Justice"  
  
-------  
  
Anr'el was so tired right now.  
  
But no wonder.  
  
Since the first cry of help from Liam, she had barely had any rest, and   
  
eventhough the Kimera did not need as   
  
much rest as a human, she still preferred to get just a couple of hours of   
  
"sleep" in the energyshower every day.  
  
She rubbed her eyes, sighed and looked up again at the rest of the inhabitants   
  
of the room.  
  
"Ca'el, Augur. Is the virus finished ?"  
  
"Almost. We should be ready to upload it within an hour. The onboard computer is   
  
currently running a debug   
  
sequence so that we can be certain that the Taelon structures simply withers   
  
away instead of blowing up."  
  
"Good. Now, there is another subject to be approached." She turned to Liam.  
  
"Liam, I would like you to return to Kimera Prime with me. We can help you there   
  
and you'll be safe."  
  
She made a small motion of dismissal as Liam attempted to answer her.  
  
"Do not answer me right now, you'll have a couple of days. Sandoval.." She   
  
turned her attention to the former   
  
implant.  
  
"I've managed to convince the council not to pursue any further ideas of   
  
punishing you. For what we know, the   
  
implant you carried, could have left a remnant of its original motivational   
  
imperative in your brain, causing you to   
  
be more susceptible for the orders of your superiors than normally. Besides"   
  
A corner of her mouth started to curl upwards.   
  
"You already died once in that cemetery, there's no real need to kill you   
  
again."  
  
"Sorry, died ?" Sandoval was at a loss.  
  
Anr'el laughed.  
  
"Yes, died. Since the Taelon CVI's kill their carriers on burn out, so did yours   
  
when it burned out in Strandhill."  
  
Liam looked stunned, then he started to smile, when he caught her train of   
  
thoughts mentally.  
  
"ehh.. Hallo ? I'm still here ?" Sandoval didn't particularly like not being let   
  
in on the joke.  
  
"Well, Liam could have brought you back from the dead.   
  
It's been know to happen.   
  
And there was no doctor present to tell if you were alive or dead, so the   
  
Council and I decided, that the biggest   
  
chance were in favour of Liam bringing you back from the dead. "  
  
She couldn't help but laughing as she saw the stunned expression on Sandoval's   
  
face.   
  
The machiavellian schemer Ronald Sandoval, master of deception and in finding   
  
the door with the exit sign, had   
  
finally been outsmarted.  
  
"The devil's in the details, Sandoval." Anr'el choked out, then continued to   
  
laugh, soon to be joined by Liam and   
  
the rest.  
  
Even Sandoval could, after a couple of dark stares directed at his son who was   
  
laughing his head off at the sight of   
  
his father stymied, see the funny aspect of it.  
  
Wiping tears of his face, he finally caught enough breath to say:  
  
"Anr'el, a small favour ? Call me Ron."  
  
"Agreed."   
  
Anr'el pulled herself together, then addressed the rest of the room.  
  
"The rest of you also have a choice: To stay on Earth or come with us.   
  
If you choose to stay, you will be left with ways of communication so that, in   
  
case you should ever need our help,   
  
either the Jaridian or the Kimeran orbiting Earth can be contacted.  
  
You are Liam's family and friends and I would prefer to see you join him on   
  
Kimera Prime, but the choice must be   
  
yours.  
  
Fiona, Ambrose, I know, that it is hard to break up, when you have lived all   
  
your life here, so another alternative   
  
will be given to you.  
  
In order to allow Liam to visit you, a portal connecting your house with the   
  
commanding Kimeran ship in orbit   
  
will be produced.  
  
Due to the fact, that our ID-drives are considerably faster than those of the   
  
Taelons, the travel between Kimera   
  
Prime and Earth are counted in days, not years.   
  
Liam should be able to visit quit often."  
  
A small frown of worry appeared on her forehead.  
  
"But let me warn you, all of you: The Kimera and anyone connected with the   
  
Kimera, are not particularly popular   
  
right now, so you may want to lay low for a while and not show of the technology   
  
we put at your disposal should   
  
you choose to stay.   
  
Liam, that is also something I want you to take into consideration."  
  
She got up, moved over to Liam and crouched next to him.  
  
"You are a very known person on Earth and most people know of your heritage.   
  
There is no telling what the mob   
  
downthere "   
  
She made a motion towards the Virtual Glasswindow with her head   
  
"are going to do with you. Please, think it over."  
  
"I will."  
  
-------  
  
Liam's apartment at the Flat Planet  
  
Several hours later  
  
-------  
  
He had come here to think.  
  
This was the only home, he had known in a long time.  
  
Thank God, no one had thought about looking for him here.  
  
The faint roar of the rampaging crowds in the street reached him through the   
  
open skylight.  
  
People were in panic.  
  
But it was only to be expected.  
  
It wasn't everyday, that one's world got turned upside-down.  
  
He picked up the Taelon puzzle and ran a finger over it.  
  
Only one choice, but so many implications.  
  
Give up the things he knew here on Earth to go to a strange planet to start   
  
over.  
  
Stay here on Earth, live with his grandparents and maybe be in danger for the   
  
rest of his life.  
  
On one side, he could still visit should he chose to leave.  
  
On the other, he knew, that if things ever got dicey for him here on Earth, the   
  
Kimera would come for him.  
  
A puzzle.  
  
A crossroad.  
  
His eyes fell on the picture of his mother.  
  
She would have wanted him to do what was right for HIM.  
  
And right now, it meant being himself for once, not what everyone else wanted to   
  
make him.  
  
The Kimera would allow him to do just that.  
  
Would the humans ?  
  
should he stay to find out ?  
  
God, he was so tired, in need of a break.  
  
Right then.  
  
Determined, his mind set, he started to pack.  
  
-------------   
  
Epilogue  
  
------------  
  
-------  
  
A mountain range  
  
5 days later.  
  
-------  
  
He was lying on his back, staring in to the azure sky, trying to figure out   
  
exactly WHAT animal that cloud to the   
  
left resembled.  
  
A strange, birdlike song was filling the air.  
  
This place had so much resemblance with Earth, that it was uncanny.   
  
But there was also so many differences.  
  
He had been suprised at how many of his "family" had chosen to go with him.  
  
Augur, Juliana, Street and Sandoval.   
  
Augur had mumbled something about him being broke anyway and since his computers   
  
no longer functioned, what   
  
was there left for him on Earth ?  
  
Juliana had made no secret of her doing it for Liam's sake.  
  
Sandoval as well.  
  
As for Street, well everytime he tried to get her to talk, all she would do was   
  
blush, then tell him roughly to mind   
  
his own business.  
  
But she had been spending quit a lot of time around Ca'el lately.  
  
The image of those two as a pair was mindbogling.   
  
How did that happen ?  
  
Lilly and her family was here as ambassadors for the Jaridian, so he didn't get   
  
to see her as much as he wanted to,   
  
but she was HERE.  
  
And Anr'el had promised to find some sort of solution on that problem.  
  
The rest of the small band, Zeke and his men, had chosen to stay behind to do   
  
their part in fighting the xenophobia   
  
on Earth.  
  
Last communications had shown them to have found some suprising support from a   
  
Danish cell of former   
  
resistance fighters.  
  
But like during the Taelon occupation, they had to be careful and quiet about   
  
it.   
  
Otherwise, they would get themselves lynched.  
  
His grandparents had returned to their village.   
  
The thought of moving to a completely different planet had been to much.  
  
But true to their word, the Kimera had installed a hidden portal in the basement   
  
of the small cottage in Strandhill,   
  
allowing Liam to visit once in a while.  
  
He was already looking forward to his first visit.   
  
Out of security reasons, the first visit had been scheduled to take place in a   
  
couple of months in order for the   
  
massive unrest on Earth to calm down, but there was no reason why he shouldn't   
  
visit more often in the future.  
  
As his eyes drifted shut, he mentally felt for the mental signature belonging to   
  
his mentor.  
  
Yup, still there.  
  
He was safe.  
  
Soon after a soft snore could be heard.  
  
A short distance away, a greenglowing creature appeared with a blanket, a soft   
  
smile on her lips.  
  
The Child was safe again.  
  
Critically assessing the sky, she saw no signs of rain.  
  
After having covered Liam with the blanket to keep him warm, Anr'el sat down,   
  
keeping a silent vigil.  
  
Everything was going to be all right now.  
  
-------  
  
Thousands of light-years away.  
  
A mothership  
  
-------  
  
"We have now identified the signature of the disturbance. It was as we feared."   
  
The scientist was extremely nervous.  
  
The Leader had been highly volatile since his return from that small planet   
  
Earth.  
  
No one knew, what he would do face with this news.  
  
The scientist was dismissed with a arrogant handmovement.  
  
Zo'or leaned back in his chair.  
  
So the Kimera was back.  
  
No need for worry.  
  
They would be dealt with.  
  
Soon.  
  
And then the Taelons alone would rule.  
  
An insane laughter echoed through the bridge.  
  
Then HE would rule !  
  
And this time, there would be no Da'an to stop him !  
  
THE END  
  
To be continued in the sequels "Nightmares" and "Birds of War" 


End file.
